The Yamis of Tokyo U: Sophomore
by Wingleader Sora Jade
Summary: It's a new year at Tokyo U, bringing with it death and resurrection, friends and foes. (Chapter 5 Up) The wrath of the gods, can be a fearsome thing indeed...
1. Stupidity Loves Company

The Yamis of Tokyo U: Sophomore 

by WSJ 

WSJ: *tries not to kill her siblings* Ugh... 

Chiot: *rolls his eyes and pokes her* 

WSJ: *blink* Ahhh. Konnichiwa minna! Welcome to the seventh story in the _Tales of the Child of Fate_. This probably isn't going to make any sense unless you've read the previous six stories, starting with _Visions of the Heart_ all the way up through _Home Sweet Home_ and _Tarnished Soul_ (written by Ebony Kuroneko). 

Unmei: In the authors notes, Chiot and I are now going to be called by our TS nicknames, because that just makes it easier for SJ. In the story, however, we're still Ryou and Bakura. ^^ You'll see. 

WSJ: *pokes Chiot* Do disclaimer. 

Chiot: *grumbles and steps forward* WSJ does not own YGO in any way, shape, or form. Amoura Letazaut, Lisa O'Kelley, Yunet, and Amoura's family all belong to Brood Mayran. Sekil, Arca, and Lark belong to Ebony Kuroneko. Gwen Kennady, Hiro Kawigami, Takeo Tomia, the Elementals, and various other OCs belong to WSJ. Am I forgetting any? 

WSJ: *grin* The four girls that run the tattoo and piercing shop own themselves. Cameos, yay! :p On to the fic! 

()()()()() 

The Yamis of Tokyo U: Sophomore 

Chapter 1 - Stupidity Loves Company 

_

Quote of the chapter:

_

"Tell me, is guys being afraid to stop and ask for directions standard in every generation?"  
~(Yugi talking to Yami; DarkGatomon, As If!) 

"Happy birthday Ryou!" 

The date was September the second. Ryou Bakura, blind telepathic son of a goddess, was turning twenty. It was just after five o'clock in the evening, and everyone had gathered at the Game Shop for a party. It had been little more than five days since Ryou, Bakura, and Yami had flown back from Egypt, barely six since Ryou and Bakura had returned from the True Realm. Fate, Shen, Yugi, and Yami were the only ones so far who had heard of their adventure. Soloman Moto, along with Fate, Shen, Isis, Shaadi, and Arthur Hawkins, were still in Egypt, excavating Mahaado and Mana's tomb now that the spirits of the two ancient mages had departed. There was no telling when they'd be back. The day after tomorrow, everyone would be driving up to Tokyo to return to school for another year at college. Well, most everyone. Serenity, Mokuba, and a few of their friends were still in high school. 

Ryou smiled at his older brother Bakura as the ex-yami handed him a small package wrapped and tied with ribbon. Eagerly the telepath unwrapped it and lifted the lid off the box, blinking at what he found. 

Inside, sitting on a cushion of cotton, was an earring. A silver stud, with an opaque, sandy stone cut and set into it. The stone was about the size of Ryou's pinkie finger nail. Usually, he wouldn't have been able to sense this gift, since his telepathic "vision" didn't allow him to see stone or metal, but _this_ stone gave off a peculiar aura of its own, like a tiny, pulsing star of magic. Ryou knew right away what it was. "Bakura..." 

Bakura smiled at him. "Mine's been set too. We'll go tonight and have them done." 

Ryou nodding, smiling gratefully up at his big brother. 

A few weeks ago, Bakura, Yami, and Ryou had gone to Egypt because Mahaado was causing trouble. It turned out that he and Mana had been bound to the jewels on the ends of their staffs, and if the jewels were smashed their spirits would be free to move on to the afterlife. Mahaado had tried to kill Ryou for a second time, and in order to save him, Bakura had smashed Mahaado's staff. Later that night, Mana had asked Ryou to do the same for her, because in the afterlife Mahaado was in his right mind again, and Mana wanted to be with him. Ryou had agreed. He and Bakura had both kept shards from the staffs, and they'd agreed that once they got back to Japan they'd have them cut and set as earrings. 

The party got into full swing once the presents had all been opened. For awhile everyone was forced to tolerate Gwen's American music, until Yami managed to dig out some Arabic stuff to replace it. Serenity and Mai were practically glued to the kitchen, where they were fixing food for all. Amoura had been settled onto the couch, her casted leg propped up in front of her. Currently Gwen was gushing over Johnny Depp's autograph and whining that she hadn't gotten to meet him. 

Joey challenged Ryou to a game of Duel Monsters using Ryou's new braille deck, and got his butt handed to him on a silver platter. 

"What?" Ryou asked, amused. "Is it too intimidating to get your butt kicked by a blind kid?" 

For some reason, Bakura found this hilarious. 

Tea wandered over to Malik, who was fiddling with the boom box. "Wow, and here I thought it was impossible for you to get any tanner." 

Malik chuckled and reached over to ruffle Tea's hair. The two of them had shared a strange sort of friendship ever since Battle City, possibly a residual effect of having shared a body. "Like what you see, Gardener?" 

Tea made a face at him. "Your hair's grown out, too." 

Malik grinned and scratched his head, where the darker roots of his hair were beginning to show. "Yeah, well, between the surfing and the con and the ren faire, I haven't had the chance to bleach it again." 

Tea blinked in surprise. "You bleach?" 

Malik burst out laughing. "Hell-o! I'm Egyptian! Blond hair doesn't exactly run in my family, or at least not naturally." 

Tea blushed. "Sorry. I guess I've known Yugi and Ryou too long. I just tend to assume any strange hair color is natural." 

Malik laughed again. "Well Ryou's not entirely human, and Yugi's a freak of genetic nature anyway, so they don't count." 

Tea pretended to be angry. "Don't talk about Yugi like that! Stop, or I'll pelt you with friendship speeches!" 

"Iie, iie, no! Not the speeches! Anything but that!" Malik pretended to cower, and then both of them started laughing again. 

"Duke, what the heck happened to your hair?" Hiro was asking near the door to the kitchen. 

Duke made a face and fingered his chin-length hair. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you..." 

Hiro grinned. "I got to witness Malik table dancing with Gwen. Try me." 

Duke raised an eyebrow and shrugged in a 'you asked for it' expression. "A bunch of magical girls in mini-skirts got into a fight, and one of them slashed my hair." 

Hiro blinked. "You're right, I don't believe you." 

Meanwhile, Ishtar had been watching Bakura closely for quite awhile. "Frodo, what happened to your finger?" 

Bakura sweatdropped massively while Yami began to laugh. 

Finally the party began to wind down and everyone began to drift home. Soon it was only Yami, Yugi, Ryou, and Bakura left. 

"So you guys are actually going through with it?" Yugi asked curiously, watching Bakura fiddle with the box containing his own earring, which was silver mounted with Mahaado's aqua gemstone. 

Ryou nodded, gathering up his gifts to put in his and Bakura's car. "Of course. Malik recommended a place to me that's still open this late. I want it done so I don't have to worry about it while I'm moving into the dorms." 

Yami snickered, poking Bakura in the ribs. "What's Amoura going to think when you show up with an earring? She doesn't know you're going to do this, does she?" 

Bakura gave him a sour look. "Obviously not," he grumbled. "She'd either forbid me from doing it or force me to let her come along." He shot a heated glare at Yami when the pharaoh coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "whipped". Bakura opened his mouth and was about to offer a retort when Yugi's question to Ryou penetrated both his and Yami's brains. 

"Can I tag along? I've been meaning to get an ear pierced for awhile, actually." 

Yami blinked at his otouto. "What? You have?" 

Yugi giggled. "You don't know everything about me, Yami." 

Ryou grinned. "Sure, you can come along. What about you, Yami?" 

"Sure sure," the pharaoh grumbled. "Have to make sure they don't poke any more holes in my hikari than they're supposed to..." 

Bakura snickered, whispering something that Yami thought sounded vaguely like "whipped". 

Mr. Fist met Mr. Skull. Mr. Fist won, and Bakura had to be dragged and dumped in the back of the car, forcing Yugi to drive. Yami laughed all the way to the tattoo parlor. Ryou directed them to a rather large shop with displays of tattoos in the windows, and a neon red sign over the front door that read 'CCCA: Tattoos & Piercings'. 

"This is it," Ryou confirmed after Yugi read the sign off to him. "Funny that it's in English, though." The others just shrugged, and they all headed inside. 

It looked almost like a hair salon, all white and black tile and halogen lights. Instead of mirrors lining the walls, though, there was literally thousands of airbrushed pictures, which they assumed were the different tattoo options. A small area just inside the door was a designated waiting area. Apparently it was a very slow night, because all four of the propetiers (who were all women) were sitting and lounging on the various chairs and talking. 

The oldest and tallest one had long black hair tied back into a ponytail and glasses. She was dressed in a pair of blue jeans and boots, with a dark green t-shirt with a dragon across the front. She was slumped back in a chair with her feet propped up on the small magazine table, and looked about ready to fall asleep. 

The second one was only a little shorter, with long braided blond hair and mischievous gray eyes. She was wearing a pair of jean capris and sandals, and a white shirt with some anime character on it. She was lounging in one of the chairs with her feet thrown up over one of the arms, so they could all get a good view of the red and gold Chinese dragon tattoo that was curled around her calf and ankle. 

The third had short brown hair and a wide grin, and was talking a mile a minute to the other three, who seemed to only be half-listening. She was wearing jeans too, red ones, with a pair of black boots and a black, slightly glittery t-shirt. She was leaning forward in her chair, gesturing with her hands while she talked. One shoulder was tattooed with an eagle perched on the loop of an ankh. 

The fourth and final girl was also leaning forward slightly, apparently trying to read the covers of the magazines upside-down and around the first girl's feet. She had short, reddish blond hair and was dressed in black jeans and boots. She was wearing a clingy, dark blue shirt that showed off her curves. It also rode up in the back when she was leaning forward, revealing a fox tail tattooed on her lower back. 

All four of them snapped to attention when the boys walked in, and the second girl let out a muffled yelp as she scrambled to get her feet back on the floor and sit up properly. "Hi," she said, just barely managing to save herself from an undignified fall as the other three muffled giggles. She seemed to realize she'd greeted them in English and coughed. "Uh, I mean, kobon wa. How can we help you?" 

Yami, Yugi, and Bakura were frowning slightly, staring at her. "You look familiar..." Yami muttered. "Were you in Switzerland recently?" 

She looked panicked a moment. "No! Of course not! Uh, why would I be in Switzerland?" She laughed falsely, and the other three rolled their eyes. 

"I'm Ebony," the one who had been falling asleep stood up and bowed to them, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "Don't mind about SJ, she's like this sometimes." 

"I'm Crys," the one with the eagle tattoo who'd been talking when they came in smiled. She then blinked, staring at Yugi. Even with his 5'6" frame the duelist towered above her. "Dang, you _are_ tall!" 

Yugi blinked. "Huh?" 

"And I'm Chan." The girl with the fox tail said quickly, poking Crys in the side. "What can we do for you gentlemen?" 

All of them spoke with American English accents, like Gwen's, and Yugi blinked. "Where are you guys from?" 

The four girls blinked, not quite expecting that. "Uh, not here." Ebony said, chuckling a little. "That's how we came up with our name. Canadian, Canadian, Canadian, American." She pointed at SJ, singling her out as the single American in their group. 

"Ah." Yugi said, giving them a cheery smile. "Well, me and Ryou and Bakura want to get our ears pierced. Yami-kun's just along for moral support." 

"Righty then." The four girls grinned and looked at each other. 

"I claim the tri-colored cutie." Crys said defensively, causing Yugi to blush. 

"I get the one with the long white hair." SJ said firmly, casting significant looks the other three seemed to understand. She and Crys calmly led their charges around the low wall that separated the waiting area from the business area, managing to control their giggles somewhat as they readied Ryou and Yugi. 

Chan and Ebony looked at each other, then at Bakura, who had the feeling he was being sized up like a slab of beef. He shifted uncomfortably and tried to ignore Yami's snickering, wondering if he should mention that he had a girlfriend. 

"Play you for him?" Chan suggested, and Ebony nodded. Yami perked up his ears, wondering if they were going to duel, or something, and whether or not he could play winner. Or loser, rather, since the winner would probably be the one shooting Bakura with the ear gun. "Ready?" Chan asked, and again Ebony nodded, looking determined. 

"Rock paper scissors, shoot!" 

"Awwww..." Ebony pouted as Chan grinned and grabbed Bakura's arm, following after her friends and his. Ebony seemed to get an idea, and looked at Yami keenly. "Do you duel?" 

~*~

It was later. 

Ryou was solemnly listening to SJ deliver instructions about how to take care of his ear so it wouldn't get infected, since he had the feeling Bakura wasn't doing any listening at all. Yugi was listening to Crys deliver the same speech and tentatively poking his two new acquisitions, wincing every few moments. "I had no idea cartilage piercings hurts so bad..." he grumbled. 

Crys broke off mid-sentence to pat him sympathetically on the shoulder. "Sorry, tried to warn you." 

"It's okay," Yugi sighed. "I'll get used to it." 

"All done?" Bakura asked, coming up behind him. "Woah, two? Yami's going to have a fit, you know?" 

Yugi grinned. "Yeah, so's Grampa, but I couldn't help it." His right ear now had a small silver stud in his earlobe, and a small ring through the upper part of his ear. Bakura's left earlobe now carried the small blue-green chip from Mahaado's staff, and Ryou's left earlobe held Mana's sandy yellow stone. 

Chan and SJ joined them, and they all trooped back out into the waiting area to find Ebony getting her butt kicked in Duel Monsters for the fourth time in a row, courtesy of Yami. Chan, Crys, and SJ found that very funny, and Ebony rolled her eyes. The four girls bid their visitors a fond (and a bit sad, it seemed to Ryou) farewell, and the Japanese men left. 

Bakura was in the driver's seat this time, and in a few minutes' time they were parked again behind the Game Shop. As Yami made to climb out of the car after his little brother, Bakura reached over and caught his hand. "Hey Yami, according to my forged birth certificate I officially turn twenty-one tomorrow, so..." 

Yami smiled and nodded, and Bakura grinned. "Great, I'll see you at eight." 

"What was that about?" Ryou asked, absently playing with his new earring as Bakura drove them back toward their own house, which would be empty now except for Socrates the cat. 

Bakura chuckled. "Nothing for you to worry over, otouto." 

Ryou sighed, figuring that whatever Yami and Bakura were meeting for, it had to do with alcohol in vast amounts. But Ryou couldn't really do anything to stop them. Besides, it'd be so much easier to pack up the last of his stuff for college tomorrow night if Bakura was out of the house, so he kept his peace. 

The next day dawned clear but cool, a sign that autumn was coming on already. Ryou and Bakura spent the entire day inside, packing the last few boxes to take with them back to Tokyo U. Truth be told, there wasn't that much to pack. Both of them had been gone so much over the summer, a lot of their things were still _in_ boxes, never having been unpacked from last spring. 

"Ugh..." Ryou muttered. "I am so woefully out of shape... Note to self: beat Bakura senseless during a 'sparring' session as soon as humanly possible." 

Ryou also gave Bakura his birthday present, a pretty crystal pyramid etched with the Eye of Horus that he'd bought while in Egypt. Bakura gave him something in return. 

Ryou frowned, turning the oval plastic... something over in his hands. The shape felt familiar, but he couldn't place... "Niisan, what is this?" 

Bakura grinned widely, giving Ryou the feeling he was holding something stolen. 

He was right. 

"Niisan!" Ryou cried, half amused and half appalled. "You stole True Realm Ryou's _TV remote control_?!?!" 

Bakura broke into laughter, unable to help it. "Yep!! Let's see that bastard hikari-beater try and watch his soap operas now!" He grinned triumphantly, and Ryou just sighed, laying the remote on the mantle and making a mental note to return it the next time he saw his True Realm self. 

The afternoon passed quickly, and when Bakura left to go meet Yami Ryou was curled up in the livingroom with one of his new novels, Socrates draped over his feet. Grinning a little at how cute his former hikari looked, Bakura slipped out the door with a jacket slung over one shoulder. 

Yami was waiting for him outside the Game Shop, and kept throwing glances over his shoulder. He practically dove into the passenger seat when Bakura drove up. The tomb robber raised an eyebrow as he waited for the pharaoh to right himself and buckle up. "What's the matter with you, your highness-ness?" 

Yami made a face at him as Bakura pulled out of the drive. "I think Yugi knows we're going drinking. He's been watching me like a hawk all day. I only managed to get away from him when I sent him into the attic to look for something and locked him up there." 

Bakura nearly slammed on the brakes. "You _what?!_" 

Yami snickered. "Relax, he can pick locks almost better than you. And if he's really desperate, he can always summon a monster to break down the door, or something. He'll be fine." 

Bakura blinked, noticing for the first time that Yami wasn't wearing the Puzzle, meaning he'd left it with Yugi. "If you say so. You know, now that you've actually got a pulse, you might want to think about a driver's license. Useful buggers, those are." 

"Yeah," Yami sighed. "Yugi was asking me about that a few days ago. I'll think about it." 

Bakura snorted, trying to hide a grin. "Can I watch your driving test and laugh hysterically while you try and concentrate?" 

"Only if you want to be run down." Yami replied levelly, looking out the window. "Where're we going?" 

"Touché," Bakura acknowledged with a chuckle. "We're headed for the red light district." 

Yami nearly hit the ceiling. "We're _WHAT_!?" 

Bakura snickered. "Just kidding, jeez pharaoh... We're headed for a bar Malik and I frequented just after Battle City, until the manager found out we were underage and kicked us out for good. Hm, it's around here somewhere..." 

Bakura found it easily enough, and the two ex-spirits went inside. It was more of a sports bar than an actual hard liquor bar, but that suited them just fine. Weaving their way around balding men waving beers at the big screen TVs, Yami and Bakura took seats at the bar, with their backs to the majority of the commotion. Since both of them now had valid (if forged) I.D. cards signifying they were both 21, the barman was happy to serve. 

"You know," Yami said after awhile, nursing his second saucer of sake. "It's kinda funny that I'm older than you by a couple months now, when actually you're older than me by a couple years." 

Bakura snorted, easily understanding the circular logic. "Feh. You gotta love irony." 

"Fate apparently does." Yami said, and Bakura chuckled and nodded, holding up his own bottle of imported American beer in toast. Yami frowned, watching Bakura take another swallow of it. "That stuff's expensive, you know." 

Bakura grinned. "I know. Malik's the one paying, so it doesn't matter." 

Yami eyed him distrustfully. "He knew we were going drinking, offered to pay, but didn't come along himself? Is he high or something?" 

Bakura grinned again and shook his head, holding out a small piece of plastic for Yami to see. "Nicked it last night at Ryou's party. He won't know for another month or two, and by then you and I can be in Antarctica." 

Yami pouted, poking at Bakura's four-fingered hand. "Too cold." 

"Un..." Bakura blinked and frowned. "You're right. The Sahara, then." 

Yami grinned. "That's better." He waved down the barman. "Since my friend is paying, do you happen to have any date wine?"1 

And, unfortunately, so it went. After sharing a bottle of Middle Eastern date wine and several more of the American beers, plus a bottle of sake, both ex-spirits were just barely this side of conscious. Currently they were singing some sort of drunken perverted song, although thankfully it was in Egyptian and so slurred that no one would have understood it anyway. Once they'd finished the twenty-third verse and chorus, Bakura slapped Yami on the back, and both of them fell to the floor in a fit of giggles. 

"G-get off!" Yami, well, giggled, trying to push Bakura off from where the tomb robber had spralled on top of him. "What would 'Moura shay?" 

"Aww, she knowsh I dun swing dat way." Bakura smirked, laying his head against Yami's shoulder since he currently lacked strength to do more than breathe. Noticing something in his rather fuzzy line of vision, he blinked. "Hey. You dun got no earringinging, Atemu." 

Yami blinked, both at the comment and the name. "Well duh, fellah, I ish a sheparate person! Why would I have Yugi-chan's earringinginging-_shit_! Earring."2 

Bakura managed to push himself to his hands and knees, staring down at a giggling Yami. Since they were still speaking in Egyptian, no one had any clue what they were saying, and they _were_ in a rather compromising position. People politely averted their eyes, although both Yami and Bakura were oblivious to the smirks, snickers, and muted catcalls being aimed their way. And of course it didn't help that Yami had chosen to wear leather. 

"You _ish_ mortal!" Bakura crowed, sounding somewhere between triumphant and puzzled. "Sho you dun have Yugi-chan's earring?" 

"Nope." 

"Oh." Pause. "I dare ya to get one!" 

Yami just blinked up at him, the alcohol playing war with his head. Somewhere in the back of his mind his common sense started jumping up and down and screaming about making bets with tomb robbers, but it was quickly smothered by his pride, stupidity, and royal arrogance, which wanted to watch the fun. So the pharaoh opened his mouth and he said: 

"Only if you get a tattoo." 

Bakura frowned a little, furrowing his brow. Now it was _his_ common sense waving little red flags, and hissing about daring a pharaoh. But as with Yami, Bakura's pride and ego beat his common sense into submission, and then ran off to find popcorn before the real show started. So Bakura said: 

"I will if you will." 

At which point the alcohol said: 

"....Okay!" 

~*~

Ebony, Crys, Chan, and SJ were just getting ready to close up for the night, still giggling about the previous night's events. 

"I got to touch _Yugi_!" Crys said happily. "I think he thinks I was trying to seduce him, or something, though. I really hope he doesn't decide to sic Yami on me... I don't feel like being Summoned Skull food..." 

"Why are we still here, anyway?" Ebony asked, glancing curiously at SJ. "I have writing to do." 

SJ rolled her eyes a little. "You? Trying having five major stories going at once. But to answer your question about why we're still here, you'll see." 

And they did. It wasn't two minutes later when the door banged open and Yami and Bakura stumbled through, giggling and trying to get up another chorus of their Egyptian drinking song. SJ smirked, while the other three just stared. 

"They're dead drunk." Crys noted unnecessarily. "Now what?" 

"We wannawanna tattoo!" Bakura said, trying to focus his eyes on two separate things at once. "And palace brat here wants a piercing!" 

Chan looked at SJ, obviously intrigued. "Are we allowed to interpret that however we want?" 

SJ made a face. "Ick, no. I kinda need them for the rest of the story. _Virgin_." she added, and all three of the others snapped their fingers in disappointment. SJ sighed and rolled her eyes, leaning over to poke Yami and trying not to wrinkle her nose. "Ugh, you reak... What do you want done, Yam-Yam? Ear? Eyebrow? Belly button?" 

"Eww, SJ!" Ebony gagged. "Everyone'll think he's gay!" 

SJ frowned slightly. "Hm. That's a bad thing..." 

Yami tried to draw himself up into a regal pose, but failed. "I shall have my eye-thingy done." he said articulately. "And something pretty." 

Four females face-faulted. "I did _not_ just hear those words leave Yami's lips..." 

"And I," Bakura also tried to stand up straighter, and also failed. "Shall have something big. And shiny." 

"Millennium Rod." All four girls said in unison, before collapsing into giggles again. SJ came out of it first and smacked the others. "Ych, minds out'a the gutter! You'd think we were dealing with Ishtar here, yeesh!" 

Yami looked thoughtful, suddenly. And in his drunken state that meant he'd had an earth-shattering revelation. "I shall have my name." he said, apparently satisfied. "So I won't forget who I am again." 

"Me too!" Bakura said hastily, not wanting to be outdone by his pharaoh. 

SJ grinned and pulled a binder out from under the desk. "Right! Thankfully I am all-knowing, and already had designs prepared." She grabbed two papers from the binder and handed one to Chan, and one to Ebony. "Ebby, you've got Bakura's, and Chan, you've got Yami. Crys... frankly I don't trust you around the tattooing needles after that little 'InuYasha' incident." 

"I said I was sorry..." Crys whined as Ebony and Chan led the drunken boys away to be branded. 

SJ grinned. "It's okay. You and I get to shoot Yam-Yam with the ear gun. Only it'll be at his eye." 

Crys perked up immediately and trailed after SJ. "Ooooh." 

The designs SJ had come up with were rather extensive, and Yami and Bakura passed out from a combination of alcohol, pain, and ego-overload long before they were done. This also meant they were waking up again just about the time they finished. 

"My god," Ebony commented as she and SJ finished wrapping bandages around Bakura's torso to protect his tattoo, which covered nearly his entire back. "They're _still_ drunk." 

"No kidding." Chan agreed as she and Crys finished up Yami. "But at least it's better than having them puke all over the place." 

SJ chuckled. "That's for tomorrow, my friends." 

After extracting Malik's credit card number from Bakura and making plans for a shopping spree, the four girls waved cheerily as Yami and Bakura staggered toward the door. There was a long, thoughtful silence after they'd left. 

"I'm really mean to them, aren't I?" SJ asked finally. 

Ebony chuckled and patted her shoulder. "We know it's only because you love them." 

"Uhhh..." Chan seemed to think of something. "Is dying on their agenda tonight?" 

SJ looked appalled. "Of course not! I still need them!" 

"In that case, should Bakura really be driving them home?" 

The four authoresses just stared at each other for a moment. 

"KUSO!!!" 

Cue mad scrambling toward the door. 

~*~

Yugi yawned as he opened the front door of the Game Shop, intending to pick up the paper and check it for any prominent graffiti or attempted drunken rapes. He'd waited up for Yami until well after midnight, but the pharaoh hadn't come home. Yugi wasn't exactly worried, just rather exasperated. 

As he stepped outside, he tripped over something laying prone on the front steps and stumbled, hopping on one foot for a moment before he regained his balance. Whatever he'd tripped over started swearing, and Yugi blinked, knowing who it was even before he turned around. 

He was right. 

Yami was laying face-down on the Game Shop's front steps, swearing into the concrete. Yugi just sighed and grabbed him by the upper arm, dragging the semi-conscious and hungover pharaoh inside. He dumped Yami on the couch and went into the kitchen, turning on the coffee maker and setting it for extra-black. He probably wouldn't be getting any answers out of Yami until there was caffeine in him. Trying his best not to be annoyed, Yugi picked up the phone and dialed Ryou's house. Ryou answered it on the second ring. 

"Moshi moshi, Bakura residence, and you'd better hope to Horus you're not selling anything, because I'm not in the mood at the moment." 

Yugi tried not to giggle, and failed. "Morning Ryou. I take it you found Bakura?" 

Ryou sighed and his voice mellowed a little. "Yes, unfortunately. He was spralled out across the back steps. I don't even want to know what he and Yami were doing last night, or what led up to the tattoos." 

Yugi blinked, a sense of slight dread filling him. "Tattoos?" 

Ryou sighed again. "Hai. Bakura has his name and title written in black and red hieroglyphs down his back. 3 He's currently chugging coffee by the gallon and swearing at me, Yami, hangovers, and the world in general. Oops, I take that back. Now he's angsting about what Amoura's going to do to him when she finds out." Yugi could almost _hear_ Ryou smirking. "And according to Bakura, Yami's got a tattoo too, so you might want to check him. You'll probably know before that though, because according to Bakura it Hurts Like Hell." The capital letters were audible. 

"Oooh boy." Yugi sighed. "And we get to try and move them into their dorms today?" 

Ryou groaned. "I'd forgotten... Do you think we can lock them in the trunk? We're taking your car, by the way. I do _not_ want ours smelling like alcohol and puke, even if it means sending Bakura back for it later. When he's sober." 

Yugi sighed. "I've been meaning to get a new car anyway... This'll just be incentive to turn it in. So I'll see you at noon?" 

"Hai." Ryou said. There was a pause as Bakura yelled something from the other room, and Ryou chuckled. "Ja ne Yugi-kun, I'm being ordered to fix more coffee before my niisan dies on me. I don't know why, my coffee tastes like camel shit since I can't see to measure, but I guess it's the best Bakura's got at the moment, because I am _not_ letting him near the liquor cabinet." 

Yugi grinned. "Well, getting drunk again is one way to avoid the hangover. See you in a few hours, Ryou-kun." 

"Ja Yugi-kun." 

Yugi hung up the phone and turned back to face the door to the livingroom warily, not sure what to expect. Yami was laying face-down on the couch with a pillow over his head, moaning about drowning in light and sound. Yugi just sighed and wandered over to him, poking him in the back. Yami squealed and jumped nearly straight up. "Owowowowow!!!! What was that for?!" 

Yugi just pinned him with a merciless glare, which looked rather yami-like on his otherwise mostly innocent face. "I hope you're not planning on making a habit of this." 

Yami sweatdropped, cowed under his little brother's glare. "Iie, iie, of course not! Bakura and I just got a little carried away!" 

"Uh huh. And I suppose he held you down and pierced your eyebrow?" 

Yami twitched a little. "...Actually, I _think_ that was Crys... Ra help me, I don't know why I let Bakura drag me into that...." 

Yugi sighed. "Shirt. Off. Now." 

Yami blinked. "What?" 

"Shirt off," Yugi repeated. "I want to see what you've done to yourself." 

Yami sighed, but knew better than to argue with his otouto. He shrugged out of his shirt, thanking the gods he was wearing a button-up. Yugi groaned as he surveyed Yami's entire back covered in bandages. "Yeesh, you _really_ got carried away... Go take a cold shower and get those off, then come back down so I can lecture you some more." 

Yami gulped and scurried upstairs, thankful to get away from Yugi's piercing glare. He returned fifteen minutes later, toweling his hair dry and bandage-less. Yugi was sitting on the couch, and as soon as he entered the livingroom Yami turned around so his back was facing Yugi. 

"Well?" Yami asked, trying to crane his neck and look over his own shoulder, then giving up when it hurt too much. 

"Er... What's it say?" Yugi just stared at the neat rows of black and gold hieroglyphs, surrounded by the golden loop of a cartouche. 4 

"Pharaoh Amennosis Atemu, Horus on Earth." Yami said, then frowned slightly. "I think." 

Yugi sighed again and rubbed his temples. "You know Malik's going to get an inflated head over this." 

Yami blinked. "Hungh?" 

"He'll claim that his scars are now 'all the rage' and that subconsciously he's the one who 'inspired' you to get them." 

Yami grinned. "Well, he won't be far off, since it was his credit card that 'inspired' Bakura to take me drinking in the first place..." 

Yugi groaned. "Oh niisan, you didn't-!" 

"_I_ didn't," Yami agreed, practically radiating innocence. "Bakura was the one who did it." Suddenly Yami's face seemed to go green and he clamped a hand over his mouth, sprinting for the bathroom and locking himself in. 

"I don't know whether to hate you or laugh at you..." Yugi muttered, rubbing his temples again. "Something tells me today's going to be a looooong day..." 

By noon, Yami had heaved up everything in his stomach and was laying on the couch and moaning when Ryou and Bakura arrived. Bakura soon joined Yami in the laying around and moaning, while Ryou and Yugi began loading boxes into Yugi's 50 million-year-old car. At around one o'clock they'd finished, and Yami and Bakura dragged themselves into the back seat, complaining the entire time. Yugi rolled his eyes as he got into the driver's seat, and Ryou got in beside him. 

"If you two don't shut up I'm going to knock you out." Ryou threatened, and both Egyptians hurriedly shut their mouths. 

Yugi couldn't help but giggle. "So what's Bakura's tattoo say?" he asked, pulling out of the Game Shop driveway and turning the car toward Tokyo. Since Grampa Moto was still in Egypt, and Mako (who'd been taking care of it over the summer) was coming back to college as well, the Game Shop was going to be closed most of the time. Scott Anius, Joey and Serenity's cousin, had a teaching job at Domino High and was going to open the shop on weekends so the Motos wouldn't go totally bankrupt while Soloman was away. 

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Thomas Bekhura bin Kadin, King of Thieves." he answered. "What else would it say?" 

Yugi snickered. "Oh, I dunno. Maybe something along the lines of 'Amoura's puppy' would be nice..." Ryou snickered as Bakura just groaned, not having the strength to lean forward and hit Yugi. 

Ryou leaned forward and felt around on the dashboard until he found the radio and flipped it on. He settled back in his seat, smiling smugly as Yugi giggled and the two ex-yamis groaned. A moment later Yugi began to sing along, and Ryou quickly joined in. 

"Honey it hurts what you've done to me,   
I'd even call it a tragedy   
Now that you've told me the name of your neeeeeew loooooooooove...   
How I wish that you didn't say what you said   
Wish it was some other girl instead   
I don't know whhhhhhyyyyy you need a guuuuuuyyy..." 5 

"Aarg." Bakura said eloquently, covering his ears with his hands. 

"Double aarg." Yami added. 

Ryou and Yugi continued singing various anime songs all the way to college, and by the time they arrived Yami and Bakura had thoroughly repented for all the sins they'd ever committed and all the ones they ever would commit. "Ryou, you can't carry a tune in a bucket..." Bakura moaned when they finally pulled up in the sophomore dorms parking lot. 

"If I hear the Cutey Honey theme song one more time I'm going to keel over..." Yami sighed, rubbing his temples. 

Ryou and Yugi snickered and gave each other a high five as they climbed out of the car, leaving their big brothers languishing in the back seat. Ryou chuckled and shook his head, poking Bakura in the shoulder. "Niisan, I need my dorm assignment." 

"Mmph." Bakura sat up, pulling a wrinkled envelope from one pocket. Sliding a finger under the flap, he pulled out a piece of paper with Tokyo U's logo at the top. He scanned it quickly, then frowned. "Room A-18, otouto. And I don't know who your roommate is, because we're not in the same room." 

Ryou blinked. "What?" 

"Sophomore dorms are doubles, only two people to a room." Bakura said. "You're in A-18, I'm next door in A-20." 

Yami gave a muffled yelp. "A-20? Oh hell!" 

"What's wrong with you?" Bakura snapped. 

"_I'm_ in A-20." Yami scowled. 

Ryou started laughing as Bakura groaned. Shaking his head and slinging a bookbag over one shoulder, Ryou headed for the dorm building, leaving Bakura and Yami to fight amongst themselves. A pharaoh and a thief as roommates? This year would be very interesting indeed. 

Pushing open the front door, Ryou wandered down the hall, running his fingers over the numbered plates on the doors. They weren't in braille, but the letters and numbers were raised, so he was able to feel them out. About halfway down the hall he came to A-18. He couldn't sense anyone inside, so he unlocked the door with the key Bakura had found in the envelope and went inside. 

Except there was already someone there. 

When Ryou opened the door, there was a soft gasp of intaken breath. Ryou froze, instantly going on full alert. What could be in here that he couldn't sense? "Who's there?" 

Someone laughed. "Unmei!" 

Ryou blinked, and blinked again, getting more confused by the moment. "Nani?" 

Whoever it was let their mental defenses slip slightly, and suddenly Ryou could sense the familiar aura sitting on one of the beds. "Unmei, it's me, Sekil. Don't jump me, 'kay? I'm too cute to die." 

Ryou nearly tripped over his own feet, surprised beyond description to discover that Sekil Mahaado was his roommate. 

~*~

1 date wine - Egyptians had two kinds of alcohol readily available to them: date wine and barley beer. Guess which one the upper class had more of. ^^ 

2 fellah - I think I've mentioned this one before. It's Egyptian for peasant or commoner. 

3 - Egyptians wrote top to bottom and left to right when using hieroglyphs. When they wrote in hieratic, they wrote left to right like we do. 

4 cartouche - a 'frame' that would surround a pharaoh's name in ancient texts. I'm sure you've all seen one at some point. 

5 - kareoke song from the Pretty Sammy OAV: "Your Hiroshi". It's a very annoying, very catchy song. 

()()()()() 

WSJ: Heh, there you go, minna! Now you know why it was so important for you to read _Tarnished Soul_. ^_^ And happy birthday to me!! 

Sekil: Whoopee. 

WSJ: *glomps Sekil* >:D You're mine now, all mine! Mwahahaha! 

Sekil: *sweatdrop* Help? 

Unmei: *snickers* You're on your own. 

Chiot: *jibbering madly over having to room with Yami* 

WSJ: *giggles* So Sekil's in Fates Realm now. Why? Stay tuned to find out! 

**Chapter 2:** WSJ: (V/O) It's a new year with new faces. 

Arca: Hi! 

Sekil: Yo. 

Lark: Hn. 

WSJ: (V/O) And some dangerous rooming combinations. 

Yugi: Oh! Takeo-san! 

Tristan: *twitch* How'd I get stuck with you? 

Gwen: Wai!! 

WSJ: (V/O) And of course we can't neglect the telepaths. 

Ryou: So why're you here, Sekil-san? 

Sekil: *grins* Because... 

WSJ: (V/O) All this and more, next time! 

God bless minna-san! 


	2. Mage Minded

WSJ: ;_; *is tied up with a gag stuffed in her mouth*

Chiot: *grin* Right! It's about time we got her to shut up!

Yami: *snickers in agreement, as he and Chiot are still rather ticked off about HSH 15 as well as the first chapter of sophomore*

Unmei: *sweatdrop* Well then, that leaves notes to us...

Sekil: Yep. It's recently come to SJ's attention that some readers have not read Tarnished Soul for various reasons, so they're wondering who I am. Ebony Kuroneko, that ultra-crazy authoress that gave birth to me, *pauses and grimaces at how wrong that sounds* has taken the time to write out a summary of me and my two siblings, so read:

Lark, Sekil and Arca are from the True (canon) Realm. They're tomb keepers who protected a tomb belonging to the Pharaoh who came after Pharaoh Atemu (SJ: *sticks her nose in* It wasn't Seto in that realm). Sekil looks like the Red Magician as seen under Arcana's control in the series, (but without the robes, obviously and he's not the crackpot). Lark looks like the Dark Magician and HE acts a lot like the Mahaado who almost killed Ryou, so they don't get along well AT ALL! Arca looks like the Dark Magician girl (again without the robes). Sekil is a telepath who is--currently--stronger than Ryou, thus why he could hide his presence from him. He has his vision and so obviously doesn't see auras. Ryou and Bakura had to go by Unmei and Chiot in the True Realm because like they said in Home Sweet Home, there were three of them around, so they needed to tell each other apart and adopt different names. Unmei means destiny and--sometimes--fate, and Chiot is simply puppy in French. Because Sekil knew Ryou and Bakura by those names, he's going to call them by those names, at least at first.

Unmei: *eyes the summary* Eh, that covers it.

Sekil: *snickers* And for the reviewer who asked, the red light district is the _bad_ side of town. *winks*

Unmei: *blushes* Oh my...

Chiot: *rolls his eyes and pokes SJ with a stick* Well, who's doing disclaimer?

Unmei: I've done it plenty of times.

Sekil: Guess it's my turn, huh? WSJ does not own YGO or Sailor Moon (which won't be mentioned much). Gwen, Hiro, and various OCs belong to her. Arca, Lark, and myself belong to Ebony Kuroneko. Amoura, Lisa, Yunet, and various others belong to Brood Mayran. Nozomi, Kawari, and any other Negative Realmers mentioned belong to High Crystal Guardian. And... I think that's it.

Unmei: For now.

Sekil: *sweatdrop* On to the chapter!

The Yami's of Tokyo U: Sophomore

Chapter 2 -- Mage Minded

_Quote of the chapter:_

_"Who do you think you are?!"  
"You, stupid."  
(Bakura and Kaeru; High Crystal Guardian; Negative Chaos)_

Major thank yous to Ebony Kuroneko,  
for her massive amounts of help  
and multiple role-plays concerning this chapter. Loff!

For several moments Ryou just stood and gaped, surprised beyond words at seeing (in a manner of speaking) the True Realm mage in his dorm. "S-Sekil?!"

"That's me," the Egyptian grinned. "Close your mouth, Unmei, before something flies into it."

"What are you doing here?" Ryou asked, kicking the door closed behind him and tossing his backpack onto the bed Sekil wasn't sitting on. "This is Fates Realm, you don't belong here."

Sekil chuckled. "Sure I do, for now. You could say I've been brought in to help settle the balance."

"Balance of what?" Ryou asked, frowning slightly. "I'm not going to find Malik rooming with Kawari, am I?"

Sekil laughed. "No, no, Allah help their sanity if _that_ happened. I'm here to fill the gap your Mahaado left behind."

"What gap?" Ryou asked, sitting down on his bed and cocking his head at Sekil curiously. "People die all the time and don't need other realm fill-ins."

"Yes, but most people haven't been around long enough for their death to leave a dent. Mahaado and Mana were around for millennia, from their death up until....well, you know. That's a long time and it left a hole that needed to be filled, at least for a while."

"Oh." Ryou blinked. "Hold on, are you the only one here?"

"Of course not." Sekil smiled. "Lark's here too, and our little sister Arca. She was sick when you guys came through before."

Ryou made a face, clenching hands around bunches of bed sheet at the mention of Sekil's twin brother Lark. "Just peachy..."

The week before, when Ryou and Bakura had gone into the True Realm to help heal a dangerous imbalance in the forces of light and dark, they'd entered a tomb in Egypt and met two spellcasters who, like the Ishtar family, had been guarding that particular tomb since the time of Yami's reign as pharaoh. The twin boys, Sekil and Lark, were also the True Realm Mahaado, split into two souls by a very old curse. Sekil was also a telepath, and he and Ryou had hit it off right away. Before Ryou had left the tomb, Sekil had mentioned that he was a student of the Elemental, Time, and hinted that he and Ryou might meet again. It seemed like that prediction had come true.

"I'm also here as a fellow telepath, though. We didn't get much time to get to know one another before, but now we'll have much longer." Sekil added, leaning back against the pillows on his bed.

Ryou smiled widely. "I'm looking forward to it already. Having a sane telepath around will be a treat."

Sekil chuckled. "Being around someone other than my siblings is great."

Ryou coughed slightly. "Uh, speaking of that... What's Arca like?"

"She's not at all like Lark, if that's what you mean," Sekil said. "And Lark is not coming to university, so don't worry about that. At the moment he's looking around for a job. Arca and I enrolled in classes here because I wanted to see familiar faces, and Arca wants to see more of the outside world. We really owe your mother a lot, she's the one that got us in."

Ryou smiled. "I'm glad she did, but what's stopping True Realm from missing its mages?"

"No one, we don't play that big a role in the True Realm, so it can handle itself without us."

"Oh." Ryou blinked.

They were interrupted as the sound of loud bickering drifted down the hall to them. Ryou twitched and smacked himself on the forehead, while Sekil got up to look out into the hallway curiously. "What in the worlds...?"

Yami, Yugi, and Bakura were coming down the hall. Yami was holding his head with one hand and yelling at Bakura in rapid-fire Egyptian. Bakura was yelling back at him, and staggering almost as if he was still drunk. Yugi followed along behind, carrying several suitcases and resigned to the fact there was nothing he could do about the yami's.

Ryou sighed and joined the wide-eyed Sekil at the door to his dorm. "If you two don't shut it I'm going to send you both to the Shadow Realm, and you'll never have to worry about getting drunk again."

Bakura just scowled at him, but Yami focused his eyes on Ryou and gave a rather unsteady bow, nearly overbalancing and falling onto his face as a result. Yugi just sighed and grabbed him by the back of the shirt, hauling the hungover pharaoh upright again. Yami didn't appear to notice. "Gomen nasai Ryou, but Bakura..." his eyes drifted, and he caught sight of Sekil. He blinked, blinked again, and then turned to calmly smack Bakura on the back of the head.

"Ow!!" Bakura yelped, spinning to face the pharaoh with an enraged look on his face. "What was that for?!"

"Damn you for getting me drunk!" Yami scowled, gesturing toward Sekil. "Now I'm hallucinating too!"

Bakura blinked and focused in on Sekil. "Bwah? Since when do you randomly summon duel monsters, baka pharaoh?"

"I didn't," Yami scowled. "Obviously what looks like the Red Magician is really just a hallucination brought on by the hangovers."

"...Oh."

Yugi sweatdropped as the two yami's continued to argue and edged his way around them to stand next to Sekil and Ryou. Sekil was still staring at the two bickering ex-spirits, a rather stunned look on his face. "Sorry about them, they've got massive hangovers at the moment. Boku wa Yugi Moto."

Sekil nodded at him, a slightly lopsided grin finding its way onto his face. "Nice to meet you. I'm not surprised at Chiot getting drunk, but pharaoh?"

Ryou chuckled. "Bakura and Yami are friends in this realm Sekil-san. Sometimes a little too good of friends. Bakura turned 21 last night, so they went out drinking."

Sekil smirked. "Ahh, I think I'm going to like this realm," he chuckled, then put his palms together and bowed to Yugi. "I'm Sekil Mahaado. Pleasure to meet you."

Yugi blinked, as did Bakura and Yami, who'd heard Sekil's introduction through a break in their fighting. "Mahaado?"

Sekil grinned and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, it's a long story. I'm from the True Realm, but Fate-sama brought me and my two siblings here to fix a balance problem. My twin brother Lark and I make up the True Realm Mahaado. I met Unm - Ryou and Bakura when they came through my living room a few days ago."

Bakura scowled. "Aw hell, Lark's here too?"

"Yes, but he's not coming here, the lazy bum." Sekil said, shrugging. He blinked at Yami, then smirked. "Whoa pharaoh, how drunk were you last night? Or did you get in a fight with a piercing gun?"

"Both, I think," Yami said sourly, glaring at Bakura. "At any rate, I'm pleased to meet a sane version of my old friend. Hopefully I can get to know you better once this damn headache passes..."

"Wooo..." Sekil whistled quietly as Yami and Bakura turned to go into their room, arguing again. "Never thought I'd hear words like that come from a pharaoh..."

Ryou chuckled and clapped a hand on Sekil's shoulder. "That's Fates Realm Lesson One, Sekil. Our Yami's quite a bit looser than yours or Nozomi-san."

"No kidding," Sekil said, still blinking. "A pharaoh friends with a tomb robber? And rooming together? This year's going to be fun."

Yugi laughed. "Oh no, I think I'm dreading April first already."

"Of course!" Sekil grinned. "Unmei and Chiot both have bright white hair, perfect for dying. What's not to dread?"

"Your hair's of dyable shade too, you know." Ryou said, glaring unsuccessfully at the other telepath. "Bakura told me so."

"Uh uh, you have no proof!" Sekil said, wagging a finger back and forth under Ryou's nose.

Yugi giggled. "Oh boy, this year's gonna be fun. Are you a mage, Sekil-san?"

Sekil blinked, looking surprised. "Huh? Well, sorta. I'm a mage and a telepath. I can switch from one to the other, though it hurts like a mother to do it."

"Someday, I want a look at your family tree," Ryou said dryly, poking Sekil's shoulder. "It shouldn't be possible for you to have mage blood _and_ telepath."

"When has 'possible' ever had anything to do with anything?" Sekil snorted, and Yugi nodded his agreement, fingering a corner of the Millennium Puzzle.

"Anyway, what did pharaoh mean, 'a sane version of my old friend'?" Sekil asked, scratching his head.

Yugi and Ryou looked at him in surprise, before Yugi looked warily at Ryou in an obvious 'should we tell him?' expression. Ryou just shrugged, his face impassive, and a moment later Yugi spoke up, though he sounded reluctant. "A month or so ago, Ryou-kun encountered our realm's Mahaado... and it wasn't really pretty."

"We got into a fight," Ryou said softly, fingering his earring. "He'd gone completely crazy over the thousands of years he was sealed in his staff. He had a grudge against Bakura, and when we fought, I ended up swallowing some of his blood..."

Sekil whistled softly. "Ouch, mage poisoning."

Yugi and Ryou both nodded. "Luckily, Fate was there to give me the antidote." Ryou continued. "Otherwise..."

Sekil winced slightly, but chuckled. "Well, after scaring Fate-sama into nearly ripping all her feathers out..... Goodness, that was a fine thing to hear about later, part of the whole 'this boy will be coming, expect him and don't kill him' speech I got before you showed up in the tomb with the others."

Ryou sweatdropped. "Yeah, that sounds like mother..."

Yugi grinned a little and nodded. "It does, actually. Well, I'm gonna go put my stuff in my room. You two have fun. We're pretty early, but the others should be here sooner or later."

Ryou nodded and waved to Yugi as the slightly shorter boy picked up his bags and headed for his own assigned dorm down the hall. "We're meeting at the Rec at six this afternoon Yugi!" The hikari nodded, and once he was out of earshot Ryou turned to Sekil with a strange look on his face. "You're not really dressed as the Red Magician, are you?"

Sekil smirked. "Of course not, I'm not a crack head, thanks. Just jeans and t-shirts for me."

Ryou chuckled. "Good. Well? Impressions?"

Sekil seemed to think for a moment. "The pharaoh's laid back to the point of being scary, and your Yugi's way too tall."

Ryou laughed. "Well, not that I'd know..."

"Really 'mei, he's nearly as tall as you are. I thought Yugi's were short by definition."

"Ours was descended from the Kaiba side of the family, so that probably has something to do with it." Ryou said, chuckling as he imagined the look on Sekil's face. "Our Pharaoh Atemu never had any children, so Yugi has to be from the Priest Sethos side."

Sekil smirked. "Really now? I'll have to taunt them about that later."

Ryou laughed and shook his head. "You're horrible!"

"I know," Sekil grinned. "So what now? I was kinda hoping we could go find Arca and see how she's settling in."

"Sure," Ryou nodded. "We've really got nothing going on until we meet the others at the Rec at six."

"Rec?"

"The campus cafe," Ryou explained. "Last year we all met up and introduced each other to our roommates, caught up on our summers, that kind of thing. We're doing it again this year."

"Ahh..." Sekil locked the dorm door and pocketed his own copy of the key, and they started down the hall. Tokyo University was a very prestigious school, and there were quite a few freshmen every year who realized they weren't up to standard and dropped out. There were barely two-thirds as many sophomores as there were freshmen, and therefore the sophomores roomed two to a dorm instead of three and were all housed in the same large dorm building. The bottom two floors belonged to the guys, with an RA for each floor, while the top two floors were the women's. According to what Arca had told Sekil, her dorm was on the fourth floor.

By unspoken agreement, Sekil and Ryou both bypassed the two elevators and headed straight for the stairs. As soon as Sekil noticed this, he chuckled. "You hate elevators as much as I do?"

Ryou made a face. "Probably more. Metal actually dampens my telepathy, and being in an elevator effectively cuts me off from anything around me. Plus, I can't "see" metal, and it gives me the really horrible sensation of standing on absolutely nothing. What about you?"

"Technology doesn't like me." Sekil said, making a face of his own. "Knowing my luck, if we got into that thing it'd probably break down."

Ryou made a face. "Noo thank you."

By the time they reached the fourth flight of stairs, Sekil was wheezing slightly and Ryou was barely winded. "You're out of shape." Ryou commented blandly, and Sekil scowled at him.

"Of course I'm out of shape, I've been living underground all my life doing nothing more strenuous than chasing scorpions for Arca."

Ryou laughed. "Oh boy. Any interest in learning the martial arts? Yami's joining Bakura and I in our sparring sessions this year, and you'd make an even four."

Sekil nodded thoughtfully as he pushed open the door to the fourth floor stairwell. "Maybe I will. I know a little bit of the Middle East variety, though I'm more used to fighting with a bo staff. Good Allah, is that _music_?"

The two boys stepped out into the hallway, and Sekil immediately clamped his hands over his ears. Ryou tried to resist the urge to laugh again. Gwen's Celtic jigs did take a little getting used to, and she was playing them awfully loud today. Ryou grabbed Sekil's sleeve and dragged him down the hall toward where the music was coming from, chuckling a little as the other telepath whined at him. Coming to a stop in front of the door, Ryou rapped on it with his knuckles. He chuckled quietly as he sensed what was going on inside. "Gwen, turn it down!"

Ryou chuckled again when there was no answer and, finding the door unlocked, pushed it open. Behind him, Sekil sputtered, and Ryou barely managed to suppress a grin. Gwen was teaching her roommate how to two-step, and was singing along with the music, holding a hair brush up to her mouth like a microphone. Her roommate, a girl with blond hair barely a shade lighter than Gwen's and big blue eyes, seemed to be in danger of falling over in a giggle fit. She looked a little young to be a sophomore in college, maybe eighteen on the outside.

When Ryou opened the door, Gwen and her roommate had both had their backs to the door. Now they spun, and Gwen started laughing when she caught Ryou "watching" her. The other girl squealed, diving past Ryou to latch her arms around Sekil's neck. "Sekil! Hi! Gwen was just teaching me to dance!"

Sekil sweatdropped a little and pried her arms off of him, placing one hand on her head. "Have you had sugar?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically and pointed to the desk, where a large bag of Pixi Stix and a somewhat smaller mound of wrappers lay. "Gwen gave them to me! Isn't she nice?"

Sekil suppressed a groan and looked at Ryou. "This is my little sister, Arca. Arc, this is my roommate, Ryou."

Arca grinned widely and waved at him. Ryou smiled weakly, but inside he was slightly dismayed. Ra, but she was hyper. Maybe, _hopefully_, it was just the sugar. But the thought of something that energetic sharing a room with Gwendolyn Kennady, who was generally that hyper _without_ sugar... The mind recoils from the very thought.

"I'm Gwen Kennady," Gwen said, managing to overcome her American roots for once and bow to Sekil, who returned the gesture. "It's nice to meet you. Your sister's great! We're going to have _so_ much fun!"

Arca nodded. "Yeah! Gwen's not Japanese, Sekil, and she says she'll teach me English and all about her home in Amanica!"

"Oy..." Sekil put a hand to his forehead, feeling a headache coming on already. "Arca, that's _America_."

"Same difference," Arca waved her hand negligently. "And guess what! Gwen has a _boyfriend_!"

Sekil nearly face faulted. "Allah preserve my sanity..."

Gwen blinked at the mention of Allah, and suddenly Arca looked a bit more hesitant. "Umm... Sekil? Gwen's not Muslim... Is that okay? I mean, am I allowed...?"

Sekil raised an eyebrow. "You should probably not mention that to Lark, but I don't have a problem with it. And as far as I know, there's nothing in the Quran against having non-Muslim roommates."

"Yay!" In an instant, Arca was back to her bouncy self, and threw her arms around her big brother again. "Thanks Sekky-poo!"

"Gaaah..." Sekil tried without success to pry her off again. "Off! Down! Down girl!"

Arca giggled and detached herself, hopping back to stand beside Gwen. "Dance with us!"

"Ra, no!" Ryou darted for the door, Sekil close on his heels.

Gwen stuck her head out the door to call after them sweetly, "See you at six!" Laughing, she and Arca gave each other a high five and then went back to their dance lesson.

*

Amoura Letazaut sighed as she pulled herself out of the car, flipping her long green hair over her shoulder. As usual when she was in Japan, she'd been staying at the Kaiba Manor over the past week or so with Gwen and Hiro, but the two of them had decided to drive up to Tokyo U early, leaving Amoura with a broken leg and no ride. Thankfully, she'd been able to get a hold of Tea, who was able to give her a lift to the campus.

Tea came around the front of the car and handed Amoura her crutches. Technically, Amoura should probably be in a wheelchair for another week or so, but the French girl had flatly refused. As Amoura got herself settled onto her crutches, Tea shouldered a backpack and picked up another two bags from the trunk. The two of them were rooming together again this year, with the obvious exception of a certain American.

There was a plaintive meowing from the back of the car, and Tea giggled. Leaning around Amoura, she managed to get the plastic cat carrier out from where it was wedged on the floor. "Sorry Yunet," The white kitten just meowed again, giving Tea an indignant look through the wire front of the cage.

Loaded down with bags and cat, Tea turned to start toward the dorm building, Amoura just behind her. Just as they reached the door it opened, and Tea found herself nose-to-chin with someone she'd never seen before. She tilted her head back, regarding the tan, white-haired man curiously. Finally she asked, "Are you from Egypt?"

The man blinked at her, surprised. "Uh, yes, actually. Why?"

Tea grinned and shook her head. "That's the way it seems to work around here. Do you know someone named Malik Ishtar?"

There was quiet laughter from behind the man. "Not yet, but he knows me."

Sekil stepped back and turned, allowing Ryou to get past him in the doorway. The blind man was grinning, his clouded eyes twinkling slightly in mischief. "This is Sekil Mahaado, my roommate and a telepath that Bakura and I met last week. Sekil, this is Tea Gardner."

Sekil blinked. "Oh. Her? I didn't recognize her with her hair so long..."

Tea and Amoura both gave him a 'what?' expression, and Ryou chuckled and explained. "Sekil-san is from another realm. The version of Tea Gardner that he knows has chin-length hair." He grinned and shook his head, holding up his hands to forestall further questions. "Bakura and I are going to end up telling that story a million times, but I don't have time right now. I was just about to take Sekil on a tour of the campus. Ah, and Sekil-san? This is Amoura Letazaut."

Sekil raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if he was supposed to know who that was. He took another look at the pretty green-haired girl on crutches. She looked about nineteen, with long green hair pulled back from her face. She was dressed like any other girl he'd seen since coming here, except for the fact that she was leaning on crutches and had a big pink cast on one leg. Hold on...

Sekil looked closer at the cast. He wasn't very good at reading proper name kanji yet, and the English letters were too small to make out at this distance, but the hieroglyphics running down one side were plain as day. " 'Bakura loves Amoura'?!"

Amoura blinked. "Oh, is zat vhat zey zay? Yami wrote zem, and vouldn't tell me vhat zey meant."

Sekil turned toward Ryou, and if the demi-god had been able to see he would have laughed at the expression on Sekil's face. "You mean, this is...!?"

Ryou grinned, trying hard not to break into full laughter. "Yes Sekil, this is Bakura's girlfriend."

Sekil's eyes threatened to pop out of his skull. "Oh man! That's one sentence I _never_ thought I'd hear!" Taking one of Amoura's hands, the Egyptian bent to kiss it. "You must have a will of iron, my lady, and I compliment you on putting up with such a loud-mouthed drunkard."

Ryou slapped himself on the forehead, and Amoura frowned. "Drunk? Bakura?"

Sekil's eyes got round. "You didn't know? In that case, you didn't hear it from me. And you didn't hear about the tattoo from me, either." He had to hide a grin as the expression on Amoura's face darkened. "It's nice to meet you."

"Et tu, (1)" she muttered, taking a firmer grip on her crutches. "R'ou, do you know vhere I may find Bakura?"

Ryou coughed to hide a chuckle. "I believe he and Yami are in A-20, suffering from hangovers."

Tea frowned and exchanged glances with Amoura. "Yami too? Great. Those two need chaperones or baby-sitters or something." Amoura nodded her agreement and the two girls went inside, leaving Sekil and Ryou chuckling by the front door. A moment later there was the sound of a door slamming open, followed by female yelling and a pair of male screams of absolute terror.

Sekil grinned widely. "I think you said something about a tour, Unmei?"

Ryou nodded, leaning against the building as he laughed. "Poor Bakura. I'm glad I'm smart enough not to do anything for Serenity to chew me out over."

Sekil quirked an eyebrow at the mention of a name he didn't recognize. "Yeah, I _almost_ feel sorry for them. Let's go before Amoura and Tea tell them how they found out."

"Hai," Ryou straightened up, still chuckling, and the two started out across the campus. Every so often Ryou would point out a building or landmark. After awhile, they came to the recently rebuilt theatre and drama building. "...And this is the building I blew up last spring."

Sekil gave his new roommate a startled look. "You actually blew up a building?"

"I didn't mean to! One of the True Pharaoh's minions attacked Serenity, and then it all just kinda escalated. Fate and I had to erase everyone's minds and make them think that the boiler room exploded."

"Time-sama briefed me about the True Pharaoh before I came, but who's Serenity?" Sekil asked, cocking his head. "You mentioned her once before."

Ryou smiled, a slight blush coming to his pale cheeks. "I keep forgetting that you're a tomb keeper in your realm, and don't know everyone I do. Serenity is Joey Wheeler's younger sister, and my girlfriend."

Sekil smirked. "Girlfriend, eh? You do realize that I'm going to have to meet this girlfriend of yours as soon as possible and conduct an evaluation."

"Go right ahead," Ryou said, grinning. "It might be awhile. She's a senior in high school this year, so she probably won't get the chance to come up until Christmas."

"A sophomore in college dating a senior in high school? You've been hanging around Bakura too long, cradle robber."

Ryou wrinkled his nose and smacked Sekil lightly on the shoulder. "Stop that. I get too much of that from her big brother."

"Hey now!" Sekil grinned. "It's my duty as a roommate to tease you whenever possible!"

Ryou pretended to pout and rolled his eyes. "Oh joy. Come on you twit, I have to pick up my schedule from the main office. Braille's hard to send through the mail."

Sekil saluted mockingly as Ryou started off. "Twit hears and obeys."

Ryou just rolled his eyes again and snorted playfully. "Idiot."

*

It was a couple hours later when Yami and Bakura stumbled out of the dorm building, still griping and moaning. Yami was wearing a pair of sunglasses to attempt to hide his eyes from the bright sunlight, and Bakura was scowling in a way that put his True Realm self to shame. The former thief shoved his hands into his pockets, growling under his breath about nosy girlfriends and no respect.

Yami, despite his own bad mood, had to chuckle at Bakura. "You know you don't mean that."

Bakura sighed, still scowling. "You're right. It's just really annoying and really, _really_ humiliating when the entire dorm sees you getting chewed out by a girl on crutches that's half your height."

"Ah yes," Yami said, nodding sagely. "The girls should have at least had the courtesy to close the door. Who was it that snickered something about 'whipped'?"

"That was Hiro," Bakura growled. "Or Duke, one of the two. It doesn't matter, I'll kill them both later. Ugh..." the white haired man buried his face in his hands. "She practically tore my shirt off me! Any other time I would have been turned on, but not when she's busy yelling about what a stupid _man_ I am and how I'm going to regret getting a tattoo for the rest of my life, and garbage like that. I can only be thankful Malik and Ishtar weren't around to see that!"

Yami frowned slightly, glancing down at his watch. "They are rather late. I hope nothing's wrong."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "If something was wrong, we'd know about it, and not just because otouto has built-in radar." He groaned as he heard a familiar roar from behind them. "Speak of the afrit..."(2)

Yami blinked at him, before he too recognized the roar. "Aw hell, just what we didn't need..." With a sigh, the two Egyptians turned to face what had to be their doom on wheels.

It was just what they'd thought. Malik Ishtar was bearing down on them, his expression invisible under the tinted face shield of his motorcycle helmet. He turned the bike and leaned on the breaks, sliding to a stop a few scant feet from Yami and Bakura. Ishtar was sitting behind him, his arms locked around Malik's waist and his terror easily visible, helmet and all. Behind Ishtar were several bags strapped down to the back of the motorcycle.

Malik killed the bike's engine and jerked off his helmet, glaring at Yami and Bakura as he tried to pry Ishtar's hands from around his waist. After several fierce tugs the Rod spirit came unstuck, and Malik pushed him off, dismounting the bike in one smooth motion. He stalked toward the two ex-yami's, anger radiating off him in waves. He got to within a few inches of Yami and Bakura, glaring at them mercilessly, teeth bared in a feral snarl. "You... you..."

"Me, me." Bakura mocked, looking down at the shorter man calmly and crossing his arms. "You're late, Malik."

"The hell I'm late!" Malik snarled. "I had to send Joey on ahead with our stuff because I spent all day scouring my apartment for my credit card!"

With Isis away in Egypt, Malik and Ishtar were living alone in their apartment. That was one of the only reasons Isis had ever let him get a credit card, the boys had to eat somehow.

"So where did you find it?" Yami asked, plastering an innocently curious look on his face.

Malik just scowled. "I didn't, because one of you has it."

"Us?" Bakura asked, as innocent as the pharaoh.

"Yes, you! Who _else_ would rack up a bill like this?!" Malik thrust a piece of paper at them. "This came in the mail this morning."

Yami's cocky smirk vanished and the color slowly drained from Bakura's face as they read the paper Malik was waving in their faces. An eyebrow piercing and two deluxe tattoos, and it even listed what the tattoos said! Damn!

"And something tells me I'll be getting an alcohol bill too!" Malik added, his eyebrows twitching slightly. "What do you two have to say for yourselves?!"

Yami stammered an attempted reply, but Bakura just shook his head. "Malik Malik Malik... Have I taught you nothing?"

Malik looked wary at this sudden change of topic. "What are you talking about, tomb robber?"

Bakura sighed dramatically. "I mean, have you forgot my lessons so quickly?" He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, flipping it open and handing Malik his credit card back. "It was all in harmless fun, my friend."

"Harmless fun that cost me a hundred and ninety-six U.S. dollars!" Malik scowled. "How'm I going to find that kind of money?!"

"We'll pay you back, of course," Yami spoke up before Bakura could, and the former thief smacked himself on the forehead.

Malik looked suddenly much more appeased. "Really now? You two, getting actual, paying jobs? This ought to be fun." He smirked, and Bakura groaned, resisting the urge to strangle him and/or the pharaoh.

It was about then that Ishtar managed to stagger his way back to his feet. "Gaaaah... And you say _Gwen's_ driving is bad..."

Yami and Bakura could only sweatdrop as Malik started laughing hysterically. After a moment of staring, Yami leaned over to whisper to Bakura out of the corner of his mouth.

"Which one's the sane one again?"

Bakura just shook his head and whispered back. "Whoever said there _was_ a sane one?"

*

Lindsey MacIntire hummed quietly to herself as she set about straightening up her classroom, preparing for another year of teaching at Tokyo University. Classes started tomorrow, and there was still so much to do. Not to mention the fact that she still had to look over the script samples she'd been sent to try and find this year's winter play and spring musical.

Still humming some random Broadway show tune, the drama teacher wandered over to her desk and picked up her attendance sheet, absently scanning the names of the students that would be in her first semester drama class.

Abruptly her humming stopped, and the color drained out of her face as she stared at the list of names. "Oh lovely..."

*

Yugi walked in on a scene of utter chaos. Yami and Bakura and Malik were growling at each other, Duke had Joey in a headlock, and Sekil and Ryou were sword fighting with their chopsticks. The Puzzle Hikari sighed and shook his head as his roommate, Takeo Tomia, walked in behind him and stopped dead.

It was six o'clock at Tokyo University's cafe, known to all the students as the Rec. The food was actually decent, the coffee even more so. Like last year, a large table had been reserved for all of them, and it was about three-quarters of the way occupied now. Some had even ordered their food and were already eating, and socializing abounded on all sides.

At one end of the table Gwen was talking animatedly about Pegasus Con to Arca, who was wide-eyed at the very thought. Nearby Ishtar and Hiro were discussing something about surfing, while Malik, Yami, and Bakura tried to glare holes in each other. Duke seemed to be attempting to strangle poor Joey, and Tristan was standing nearby ready to help. Both of them were shouting something about Mai. Ryou crowed in triumph as he managed to steal a piece of sushi from Sekil's plate, and the mage scowled at him. Ryou only grinned and popped the food into his mouth.

Yugi just shook his head and sighed, used to the antics of his large group of friends. Takeo just laughed and went to sit near Hiro and Ishtar, while Yugi attempted to break up the fight between Joey and Duke and Tristan. He'd just managed to wrestle them into their seats when the doors opened again, admitting the last trio of their group.

Amoura looked slightly annoyed with her crutches, but her face cleared when Bakura hopped out of his seat and went to help her. Mai and Tea were right behind the green-haired French girl, giggling something about Mai's summer experiences in Kyoto.

As soon as he saw Mai come in, Joey got out of his seat as well, going to give her a brief kiss as he escorted her to the table. Yugi just grinned and sat back, waiting for the inevitable outburst. Though they'd all been together at the Game Shop day before yesterday, Mai'd been in the kitchen most of the time, and Joey had been tangled up in the miniature dueling tourney that had sprung up, so no one besides Yugi and Serenity and Yami really knew that Joey and Mai were back together again.

Duke jumped out of his seat with a cry, pointing a finger at the snickering couple. "You... you... Joey, I thought you were kidding when you said you and Mai made up!"

Joey smirked and wrapped one arm around Mai's waist. "Obviously not, Devlin."

Everyone else made muted cries of surprise and pleasure, and Gwen slapped Tea a high five. Mai laughed and Joey grinned, and they took seats at the table. Amoura managed to settle herself between Bakura and Malik, and the back-to-school party got underway.

Thankfully this year there was nothing spilled, no flying soup, and instead of fighting Mai and Joey kept sneaking kisses. Whenever they did, Bakura pretended to gag. Finally Amoura just rolled her eyes, grabbed her boyfriend by the collar, and shut him up in a very effective way.

Sekil smirked, pushing his sushi around his plate with his chopsticks. "You have weird friends, 'mei."

Ryou grinned. "I know, but I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Probably not." Sekil agreed. He looked down at his plate and blinked. "How did I manage to get sushi?"

Ryou smirked. "You made the mistake of letting me order."

"Oh yeah. Note to self: never do that again. What _is_ sushi anyway?"

"Raw fish."

There was a moment of silence. "Oh." Spearing a piece of sushi on one of his chopsticks Sekil stuck it in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Huh. Tastes like cobra."

Ryou just laughed.

*

(1) et tu - As most of you probably have heard, "et tu" is French for "and you". Technically the correct grammar here would be "toi aussi", which is "you also", but meh.

(2) afrit - Arabic - devil or demon

WSJ: *has managed to chew through her gag* Eeeeeeee!!!

Chiot: X_x Ow! What was that for?

WSJ: We got a puppy a few nights ago!!! She's sooo cute. Her name's Angeline.

Unmei: *pokes the puppy, who yips* 0.x This is just beyond bizarre...

WSJ: ^^ Well, hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. It better not. -_- Until then!

**Chapter 3:** WSJ: (V/O) Classes have started.

Ryou: *drags Sekil out of bed* Come on, lazybones.

WSJ: (V/O) And some people are _not_ pleased.

Bakura: How in hell's name did I end up in _this_ class?!?

WSJ: (V/O) But he doesn't exactly have a choice. :p All this and more, next time!

God bless minna-san!


	3. Sight Unseen

WSJ: ^_^ *humming to herself as she types* 

Unmei: Oh no... 

Sekil: What? 

Chiot, Unmei, and Yami: Christmas carols. 

Sekil: *blink* Christmas whats? 

Chiot: *dryly* Be glad you've lived under a rock all your life. Christmas carol parodies are the bane of muses everywhere. 

Sekil: Yeah, I kinda learned that at Ebony's... 0.o I'm a muse? 

Unmei: You are now. 

Sekil: -_- Joy. 

Yami: YuGiOh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi. Sekil, Arca, and Lark belong to Ebony Kuroneko. Amoura, Yunet, Lisa, and various others belong to Brood Mayran. Kawari, Nozomi, and any other Negative Realmers mentioned belong to High Crystal Guardian. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko...whatever her last name is. And last but not least, Gwen, Hiro, Fate, and various other original characters belong to WSJ. 

Unmei: Is it just me, or is the disclaimer getting longer? 

Other muses: -_-; 

WSJ: *still humming* 

Small note: If you want a really fascinating read into the world of blindness, try _Sight Unseen_, by Georgina Kleege. It's a very inspiring book, and really influenced this chapter (as you can tell from the title), so check it out! 

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-) 

The Yamis of Tokyo U: Sophomore 

Chapter 3 -- Sight Unseen 

_Quote of the chapter:_

"Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution."  
~(Kahil Gibran)

Once again, thanks to Ebby for all her help!  
I'd be lost without you, girl. 

The party lasted well into the night. Food was consumed, playful (for the most part) fights broke out, and summer stories exchanged. By nine most of the other students had left the cafe, and Takeo had gone off back to the dorm he and Yugi shared claiming to be tired. Bakura and Ryou then took turns filling everyone in on their adventures in the True Realm, with Sekil adding in the small bits he'd been around for. By the time they'd finished, Yami and Malik were bursting with questions on what the True Realm's ancient Egypt had been like, and how it had differed from their own. As a result, nearly everyone else had already gone to bed before Yami, Yugi, Bakura, Ryou, and Sekil had even left the cafe. 

Tristan and Duke were the first to wander off, bickering good naturedly about who got to claim the bed nearest the window in their dorm. Duke was staying on campus this year, and when Joey had found out that Duke and Tristan had gotten stuck as roommates, he'd had just shook his head and commented that the campus wouldn't survive. Joey himself was rooming with Hiro, and they plus their girlfriends and Arca were the next to wave goodbye and head off to the dorms. Amoura and Tea stayed another hour or so, snuggling against Bakura and Yugi respectively, and then they yawned and left as well. Malik wanted to stay even longer, but Ishtar rolled his eyes and dragged his little brother-turned-roommate off to bed by eleven thirty. 

It was nearly midnight before the manager of the cafe finally kicked the last of them out. Yami and Sekil were still comparing notes on Egyptian court when Ryou and Bakura dragged them to their rooms. Yugi just laughed and bade them all good night before quietly slipping into his own dorm. 

Sekil grinned and shook his head as he shut the door to his and Ryou's dorm. "Your realm is messed up, 'mei. A Hebrew Bakura and a Yami with no kids..." he smirked, obviously amused. 

Ryou laughed around a yawn. "Yeah, I guess ours would be, but to us, yours is the weird one." 

"Of course, everyone thinks their own realm is normal, even if it's the most whacked up one out there." 

Ryou rolled his eyes a little, then yawned again. Still chuckling, he rummaged around in one of his boxes, and after a moment pulled out a pair of sweats and a t-shirt to sleep in. He paused, waiting for Sekil to turn his back in his own search for pajamas, and then Ryou quickly slipped off his shirt, grabbing the t-shirt to replace it. 

But he wasn't quite quick enough. 

"Hey 'mei..." Sekil turned around, and his voice trailed off. 

Ryou gulped quietly as he sensed Sekil's aura darkening, and he made to put on his shirt to cover the scars across his body. Before he could, though, Sekil put out a hand and motioned for him to stop. His face, though Ryou couldn't see it, was serious, and a sharp contrast to his usual smile. "Say Unmei... Who gave you those whip marks...?" 

Out of nervous habit, Ryou lowered his face so that his bangs fell in front of his eyes. Of course Sekil would recognize scars left by a whip, he _had_ lived a previous life as an Egyptian priest-mage, after all. Ryou gulped quietly again, twisting his t-shirt in his hands. "It... doesn't matter." 

Sekil snorted and reached out to tilt Ryou's chin up so he could look at the other telepath's face. His frown deepened when Ryou flinched slightly. "Like hell it doesn't. Don't make me read your mind." 

Ryou flinched again, and Sekil was slightly surprised to see the other telepath blinking back tears. "It... it really doesn't matter, Sekil-san. It was a long time ago." 

"I don't care," Sekil said, keeping Ryou's chin in a firm but gentle grip, not allowing him to lower his face again. "I want to know who did it." 

Ryou paused for a moment, and then he pulled himself out of Sekil's grip and turned his back on him, resting his trembling hands on the edge of the bed. Sekil chewed on his lower lip for a moment, his brows lowered in anger as he looked at the scars that crossed Ryou's back under the thick mane of white hair. They were old scars, none of them recent, but that didn't change the fact that someone, sometime in the past, had hurt Ryou badly, and Sekil wanted to know who. When he spoke again, Sekil's voice held a note of warning. "Ryou..." 

Ryou's fists clenched at the use of his real name instead of his nickname of Unmei. He'd figured that Sekil would find out about his scars sooner or later, he just hadn't been expecting it quite so soon. Frankly, he was surprised that Sekil hadn't outright asked about the scars on his arms, but then again, Sekil was the kind of guy to respect one's privacy. Ryou just wished this conversation could have happened at a slightly later date. But then again, in a strange way Sekil did have a right to know, with him being another telepath and Ryou's "tutor" in the mental arts, not to mention another Egyptian reincarnate. And he knew all about Bakura troubles. At last Ryou spoke, very very softly. 

"Bakura." 

For a moment, Sekil was sure he'd heard wrong, and he just blinked. "Bakura?" There was a pause. "_This_ Bakura?! Chiot?!?!" 

Ryou nodded, turning to face Sekil again with a meek expression on his face. Sekil just gaped, unused to seeing the normally confident Ryou so submissive. 

Sekil sputtered incoherently a few times. "Chiot? Chiot did all that?! _Why_, for the love of Allah?!" He didn't wait for an answer, and put a hand over his eyes. "Ohh someone stop me before I go kick his ass..." 

Ryou's eyes widened slightly, and he darted forward to grab Sekil's arm. "Don't! Please don't... He's not the same person he used to be." 

Sekil's expression softened as he looked down at his roommate and friend. It was easy to see how Ryou cared for his "big brother", but if it was true that that same "brother" had beaten him so badly, how in the world... Sekil sighed heavily. "I know 'mei, that's why I won't. But good Allah! I just don't understand! You two are so close, I'd never have guessed..." 

Ryou smiled faintly. "Then that's good. We've been through so much together..." 

Sekil just shook his head in disbelief. ".....Geez Unmei.... I had no idea Chiot was ever like that son of a sand louse back in the True Realm." 

"Why do you think I was avoiding him like the plague?" 

Sekil snorted. "Because he _is_ a plague." He moved forward to pat Unmei on the shoulder. "You're lucky I like Chiot or I might be inclined to beat him into the next century." 

Ryou managed another weak smile. "Yami said the same thing, more or less..." 

"I'd expect that from the Pharaoh, though the fact that those two are friends still weirds me out a little." Sekil chuckled. 

Ryou smiled slightly and shrugged. "Well... like I said, we've all been through so much..." He turned and pulled his shirt over his head so Sekil wouldn't have to look at his scars anymore, and then sat down on his bed. It took him a moment to realize that he was gently rubbing the rose scar on his left arm, like he always did when he was nervous or stressed out. He blushed lightly and quickly crossed his arms over his chest. 

Sekil just looked at him, a musing and slightly sad expression on his face. "....You know 'mei, you can think of those scars kind of like....badges of valor." 

Ryou blinked, caught off guard by the comment. "What?" 

"Well, you made it through the bad times, the Gauntlet and you came out stronger for it. Reminds me of a game kids used to play in Egypt...." 

Ryou just 'stared' at him. "They chased each other around with whips?" 

"No no. Kids would line up in a double row and would throw whatever was at hand at whatever kid had been chosen to go through the 'ritual'. It was kind of like an initiation. If the kid could get through this gauntlet without falling or crying out, they would be considered stronger by his peers." Sekil smiled. "And you made it through your own gauntlet....you and Chiot both, by the look of things." 

Ryou smiled, unconsciously reaching out to brush Bakura's already-sleeping presence in the next room. "Yeah... I guess we did. You'll probably hear the whole story sooner or later, but it's a long one." 

Sekil shrugged and began to change into his own pajamas. "Maybe another time, when I've got the both of you in a room together. I'd like to hear the full story from both sides.....wow, that makes me seem kind of morbid, doesn't it?" 

Ryou chuckled softly. "Not really. You do have a right to know." He thought of something, and winced a little. "But here's hoping Lark never finds out." 

"Here here," Sekil agreed. "But on to a different topic, like... your earring. It resonates." 

Ryou blinked. "It does? I hadn't noticed. I can sense it, which for a rock is special in itself, but I hadn't noticed much beyond that." 

"Well, it doesn't resonate very strongly, but it definitely has a 'tone' to it. Let me guess, off one of the mage's staffs?" 

"Yep, Mana's." Ryou nodded. "Bakura has an earring from... his. We're the ones who ended up setting them free, so we decided it was best if they left a little legacy." 

Sekil grinned. "Very noble, I salute you." He then did so, and Ryou laughed. 

"You're so weird, Sekil." 

"Hey, if you'd grown up with Lark and Arca as your siblings, you'd be weird too." 

"Probably," Ryou agreed. 

Sekil grinned. "Not to say you're not weird yourself." 

"Me? Weird? Perish the thought." 

"Well, something just perished, but I'm pretty sure it was just brain cells." 

"You have too many of those anyway," Ryou quipped, grinning. 

Sekil snorted lightly. "Well Lark's a few blocks short of a pyramid, so I'm the brains of the operation." 

"Luckily for the world," Ryou said, frowning slightly at the mention of Sekil's temperamental twin brother. 

"I've heard THAT one before." Sekil said. "_Fate_ was on my side when they were dishing out telepathic powers." He winked at Ryou and grinned. 

Ryou chuckled, flopping over onto his side and propping himself up on one elbow. "I'm sure she was." 

"Actually, I'm not sure she had anything to do with it, but either way, I'm not complaining." Sekil flopped down onto his own bed, hitting his head against the wall. "Ow!" 

Ryou started laughing at him, and Sekil growled playfully as he righted himself, rubbing his head. "All right laughing boy, here comes your first lesson." 

Ryou blinked as the last of his chuckles died away. "My first what?" 

Sekil grinned. "Well, I'm here to mentor you telepathically or some other rot like that, right? Here's lesson one. Turn off the light without getting out of bed." 

For a minute Ryou just gaped at him. "Er, Sekil? Blind telepath over here. I don't 'see' metal or plastic, which makes light switches a no go." 

Sekil frowned. "Hm. That is a problem. We'll have to work on that. Oh well. Night 'mei." Reaching out telepathically, Sekil flipped off the light switch, then settled down to sleep. 

Ryou smiled into the darkness, before rolling over and settling in as well. "Good night Sekil-san." 

~*~

The next morning Sekil was awakened rather rudely by somebody sitting on him. He groaned and cracked one eye open, raising an eyebrow when he beheld a grinning, gi-clad Yami sitting on his stomach. "What do you want?" 

Yami smirked. "Up you get, priest. Time for the morning work out." 

Sekil groaned again and turned his head to see Bakura leaning against the door frame, also wearing a gi, and Ryou shrugging into his own. "So early?" 

"Bakura has a seven-thirty class on Mondays." Ryou said, tying his gi shut with his black belt. "So sparring starts at five. Other days we'll probably start around six. You _did_ say you'd join us, Sekil-san." 

"I said I'd think about it," Sekil grumbled, but he sat up, playfully pushing Yami off of him. The pharaoh rolled off the bed and to his feet quite easily, grinning at Sekil. 

Ryou chuckled and pulled his hair back away from his face, tying it into a loose ponytail. "Come on Sekil, get up." 

"I'm up, I'm up," Sekil muttered, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. 

"Catch," 

Sekil barely had time to blink before a bundle of white material hit him in the face. "What-?" Pulling it off his head, he saw it was a gi. 

Bakura grinned. "We'll get your sizes and order you one from Raiden-san later. For now you can just borrow my spare one." 

Sekil frowned slightly, recalling his and Ryou's conversation of the night before. Ryou must have sensed it, because he sent Sekil a pleading look. Sekil shook his head in answer and quickly changed into the borrowed gi. Like Ryou, he pulled his hair back, and then the quartet headed outside. Sekil sighed as he noticed that Ryou and Bakura both wore blackbelts, and Ryou's had the gold-banded ends that indicated he was a blackbelt in more than one style of martial arts. Something told Sekil that these so called "sparring" sessions were going to hurt. 

The four of them formed up in a loose square at the center of the field near the dorm buildings. "Bakura and I are going to spar first, since we're a little bit above you guys in terms of skill," Ryou said. "Then we'll work with you two." Without waiting for an answer, he and Bakura bowed to each other, and then jumped head first into their fight, punching and kicking at each other viciously. 

Yami snorted as he and Sekil watched the two go at it. "A little? They're light years ahead of us." 

Sekil nodded. "No kidding. I have to say though, it's strange to see a Ryou fight." 

"If you'd known him a few years ago you'd say the same thing." Yami said. Sekil turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, and Yami shrugged, not taking his eyes off his two friends. "I don't know if Ryou himself has made the connection, but Bakura and I both have. He fights because he has to protect the ones he loves from the True Pharaoh, of course, but it's more than that. He's afraid of returning to the way he used to be. Before the Locking Rituals, the entire time I'd known him Ryou was always quiet, polite, and utterly submissive. I learned later that was because of Bakura. Ryou and Bakura have both learned to hate those years, and have left them without looking back. But subconsciously, Ryou's still fighting against the image of a weak little mouse that Bakura always made him be. That's why, more often than not, Ryou wins these spars. Most of the time it is because of his skill, but sometimes Bakura just lets him win so Ryou will never have to worry, subconsciously or otherwise, that he's reverting back into what he used to be." 

Sekil frowned and turned his eyes back to the fight, repeating his comment to Ryou from the night before. "I never would have guessed that they had bad history just from looking at them. They seem so close." 

Yami smiled a little as Ryou managed to pin Bakura to the ground and crowed in triumph. Laughing, Bakura pushed him off and began to tickle the blind telepath, who could only laugh helplessly. "They _are_ that close, Sekil-san. Whatever the past was, it's far behind them now. And if it was hard for Ryou to trust at first, that's not an issue anymore." 

Sekil smiled, glad that Yami had confirmed what Ryou had been insisting. "Good." 

Once Bakura got done tormenting his ticklish little brother, the two of them set about giving Sekil and Yami bruises that would probably last a week or more. Sekil, used to fighting with a staff in his hands, had cruddy defense, and Ryou found plenty of opportunities to demonstrate it. As for Yami, he wasn't used to being attacked from his years of having bodyguards, and Bakura took a special, almost malicious delight in showing his new friend that body guards didn't exist in this century unless you were Seto Kaiba. By the time Ryou and Bakura called it quits, Yami was limping slightly and Sekil was whining about a sore bottom from falling down so much. 

Bakura just snickered at them. "You'll never get any better if there isn't pain involved," he said, wiping a trickle of blood away from his lip where one of Ryou's punches had gotten through during their spar. "It doesn't work that way." 

"Is your leg all right, Yami?" Ryou asked. "Bakura kicked you a bit hard." 

Yami waved him off. "I'm fine. I'll be walking straight by this afternoon." 

Sekil smirked. "Pharaoh, do you have any idea how _wrong_ that sounded?" 

Yami and Bakura both scowled, and Ryou started laughing. 

Back in the dorm, Ryou graciously offered to let Sekil shower off first, claiming he wanted to read over his schedule again. When Sekil came out of the bathroom twenty minutes later with a towel over his hair, Ryou was sitting on his bed, running his fingers over the braille on the schedule the main office had given him the day before. Craning his neck, Sekil could see that below the rows of braille were (presumably) the same lines written in standard kanji, in case Ryou needed help from a sighted person. "Shower's free." 

"Thanks." Hopping off the bed, Ryou tossed the card (1) onto the desk and grabbed his clothes from where he'd laid them out over a chair. He headed for the bathroom, and Sekil wandered over and picked up the schedule. Curious, he closed his eyes and ran one finger over the first row of braille type. He couldn't distinguish one bump from the next, much less separate it into individual letters or even words. Gently, Sekil put the card back on the desk. He was still staring at it, musing, when Ryou got out of the shower with his hair tied up into a towel turban. 

"Sekil? You okay?" 

Sekil jumped slightly, startled out of his thoughts by Ryou's words. "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine.... Is it hard, Unmei?" 

Ryou blinked at him. "What?" 

Sekil waved his hand at the card. "Braille. Is it hard?" 

"Not really." Ryou said, shrugging. "It took a little getting used to, but no, I wouldn't say it's hard." 

"Oh. What do you do about text books?" 

Ryou grinned. "Well, last year I generally had to have Bakura or Hiro read the lessons aloud, which was a pain, and I used my computer to do the actual assignments. Hopefully this year they'll actually have some braille text books, or I can take my courses online." 

Sekil frowned. "How would that work?" 

Ryou grinned and leaned around Sekil, flipping up the cover of the laptop sitting on the desk. "Seto and Mokuba put their heads together and custom built me a laptop. It has a braille keyboard, a printer that can print either in braille or romanji, and a screen that's made of some sort of gel. It can actually mold into braille so I can read what's on the screen. Yami's magic had something to do with its construction too, but I'm not sure what." 

"Ahhh... modern magic." Sekil nodded, then blinked as his eyes drifted to the clock on the wall. "Oh damn." 

"What?" Ryou asked, closing the lid on his laptop. He took his hair down from its turban and grabbed a brush, beginning to work it through his thick white hair. 

"I have a class in fifteen minutes all the way across campus." 

Ryou laughed. "I've got one over that way too, hang on a minute and I'll go with you. We can get a ride from Joey, I think he's in my class." Abandoning his hair for the moment, Ryou pulled it back into a ponytail and stuck his brush in his backpack, which was sitting by the desk. Slipping his computer into its case, Ryou zipped it shut and reached for a staff that Sekil hadn't noticed before. It was leaning in the corner. 

Sekil blinked and looked again. It wasn't a staff, it was a cane. Tall enough to reach Ryou's stomach, it was made of polished, dark wood. The end Ryou held was slightly thicker, and carved with an intricate, almost hieroglyphic design. A leather loop adorned that end as well, and Ryou slipped it around his wrist. The other end looked like it had been dipped in paint, the bottom six or seven inches were white. "Unmei..." 

Ryou smiled sadly and reached for a pair of sunglasses sitting on the desk, slipping them on over his clouded brown eyes. "I'm blind, Sekil-san. People notice if I walk around without a cane, but don't bump into things. We found that out the hard way last year with Hiro-kun. I'm surprised more people haven't noticed. Bakura and I thought it would be better to be safe than sorry this year." 

Sekil nodded, but still looked slightly puzzled. "Why do you bother? With your telepathic powers you could easily pass yourself off as sighted. Why point out the fact that you're blind when most people wouldn't even notice?" 

"Not everyone can be a hero," the telepath answered, slinging his backpack over one shoulder and his laptop case over the other. "But someone has to be. Society looks at blindness in strange ways, Sekil. A lot of blind people are hated or feared, mistreated or ignored. Most people who are legally blind aren't even blind like me. Most of them can see, but only colors, shapes, movement. They get along fine, and hide their impairment because they're afraid of what people might think. I'm not afraid of what people think. I want to show them that you don't have to hide disabilities." 

Sekil grinned at him. "You're a regular saint, 'mei." 

Ryou chuckled. "Thanks. Now come on, we're going to be late." 

~*~

At first, Bakura thought it would be just another class. 

After their morning spar, he and Yami showered off and then took turns rubbing vaseline on each others' tattoos (with Bakura grumbling about how he wished it was Amoura). Yami had then gone back to bed while Bakura got ready for his first class, which he shared with Amoura, Yugi, Tea, and Gwen. It was, in fact, a drama class. Amoura had somehow managed to convince him to sign up for it last spring after she realized how much Bakura had enjoyed acting in Sound of Music, Director-baka or not. 

The five of them met up outside the dorm building, intending to drive over to the drama building together. 

"It's so nice out this morning," Tea sighed. "And our class isn't even that far away. Too bad we can't walk." 

"Sure we can," Bakura said, grinning. "Amoura, give your crutches to Gwen." 

Giving her boyfriend a puzzled look, Amoura did so, balancing precariously on one leg with her big pink cast off the ground. Bakura grinned, and before she had a chance to protest he crouched down in front of her, looping his arms around her knees. Amoura barely had time to shriek before he stood up again, and she flailed for a moment before wrapping her arms around his neck with a laugh. "Bakura!" 

"Well, now we can walk." The ex-thief grinned and started off, leaving the other three to catch up. 

"You two are so cute," Yugi grinned, rolling his eyes slightly at Bakura. "But ridiculous-looking with that big pink thing sticking out in front." 

"Not my fault," Amoura said, smiling and laying her cheek against the back of Bakura's head. He only snorted. (2) 

They were a tad early, so when they reached the drama building the teacher was not in the classroom yet. The room was pretty good sized, but apparently the class was small, because only a dozen or so two-person tables littered the room. On the wall opposite the door were two windows and between them an old-fashioned chalk board. At the front of the room was a small stage raised about a foot off the ground. Beside it was the teacher's desk, complete with computer and stacks of clutter. A triangular tag bore the teacher's name, Lindsey MacIntire. 

The five friends took seats near the front, and within the next few minutes the rest of the class straggled in and found seats of their own. Right on the stroke of seven-thirty, the teacher stepped into the room. As soon as he saw her, Bakura growled and jumped to his feet. "You!" 

Director-baka sighed and rolled her eyes a little. "If you would take a seat, Mr. Bakura, we can begin class." 

"I'm not staying in a class taught by you! Come on Amoura." 

Amoura grabbed Bakura's sleeve, looking up at him with big eyes. "Zis is zee only drama class offered zis zemester. Please, Bakura?" 

Bakura looked at her for a long moment, then sighed and plopped into his seat. "Fine. But she makes one prejudiced move toward you and we're out of here." 

Director-baka rolled her eyes again and crossed the room to her desk. "Well, now that that little melodramatic episode is out of the way... My name is Miss MacIntire, and I'm your drama professor, obviously. Some of you," she eyed Bakura, "Know me already from last year's play, which regretfully ended in disaster." 

"What happened?" piped up a wide-eyed freshmen from the back of the room. 

Director-baka looked thoughtful all of a sudden. "Everyone seems convinced the boiler room blew, but I seem to remember some sort of attack..." She shook her head as Bakura half turned around to exchange a wide-eyed look with Yugi. Why did she remember that? So far the only people they'd come across who hadn't been caught in Ryou and Fate's mind wipe were people who already knew what was going on anyway, plus Hiro, Gwen, Amoura, and Scott. Why would Director-baka possibly...? 

This... could be bad. 

~*~

That afternoon Bakura managed to catch Ryou and Sekil in their dorm after classes. "We've got a problem, Ry." 

Sekil's face went carefully blank, and he motioned for Bakura to come inside and shut the door. "I'll say we do." 

Bakura blinked, closing the door behind him. "What?" 

"We've got to talk. About you and Unmei's past, and to be exact, what has to do with his scars." 

Bakura winced. "Oh." 

Sekil's face was carefully neutral. "So I want the story." 

Bakura sighed softly and ran a hand through his hair. "This could take awhile..." 

"I figured it would," Sekil answered. "I've got time if you guys do, since I want you both here." 

Ryou shrugged. "I don't have any more classes today. You niisan?" 

"Nope, I'm good." Bakura sat down on one of the beds, and Ryou quickly joined him. Sekil sat down on the other, folding his legs up under him. Bakura sighed again. "Oh boy, where to begin..." 

Ryou smiled and laid a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "The beginning always works." 

"Yeah..." Bakura paused, collecting his thoughts. "As you know, Fate-sama disguised herself as a human and married Ryou's father, Shen Bakura. While in this mortal guise she had two children, Ryou and his little sister Amane. When Ryou was eight, she and Shen were on a sort of second honeymoon in Egypt, and saw the Ring for sale by an antiquities dealer we later manged to track to Shaadi. She pointed it out to Shen, who bought it and gave it to Ryou. For the next two years or so, I was pretty quiet. I'm sure Fate-sama knew about me, but for her own reasons she never made herself known to me. At that time I was..." 

Ryou actually smirked a little. "A real bastard?" 

Bakura blushed. "Yeah, something like that... Anyway, after Ryou turned ten, Fate-sama got called back to her duties by a big skirmish in another realm. She faked her own death so she could go back to being a goddess and help. Shen was at a dig at the time, so Ryou and Amane were alone for nearly a month with no way to contact Shen..." Bakura stopped and looked off to the side, clearly uncomfortable with whatever came next. 

Sekil made a 'hm' noise and glanced at Ryou, and was surprised to find the blind man's face blank. His eyes seemed darker than usual, like he wasn't there at all. After a moment he picked up the story where Bakura had left off, his voice soft. "I don't have many memories from that month. Bakura and Yami aren't sure if I just blocked them out because they were too painful, or if I actually got hit hard enough somewhere in there to give me selective amnesia. But I do remember the day Amane died..." He shuddered, shutting his eyes as a few tears leaked down his cheeks, and Bakura squeezed his hand reassuringly. 

"With Shen gone and Angeline dead, I made myself known to them, and beat both him and Amane. One morning they were out trying to find food, and Ryou fell. Amane was on the opposite side of the street from him, and when she saw him fall she tried to run to him..." 

"There was a car," Ryou said softly, his hands clenched around the material of his shirt. His eyes still carried that eerie, far away look. "It was red, I remember that... Just like her blood..." More tears trailed down his cheeks, and Bakura put an arm around him, gently soothing his one-time hikari. 

After a minute, Bakura continued. "It was just after Amane died that Shen returned home." 

Sekil tilted his head slightly, his blue eyes fixed on Bakura. Seeing Ryou cry was unnerving him slightly, but he could understand. It hurt to remember things you'd much rather forget, _especially_ when it involved the death of loved ones... He shook his head slightly and concentrated on the Ring holders in front of him. "And of course, you couldn't be misbehaving with Ryou's father around, right? So you waited for Shen to go somewhere?" 

Ryou nodded slightly, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand. "And he always did. I think losing mom and Amane both at once really hit him hard, and seeing me just made it worse. For the next seven years or so he was hardly ever around." 

"Which left Ryou at my mercy." Bakura said softly, not looking at either telepath. 

For a moment Sekil was silent, his brow furrowed. "But what I really want to know is, why? I think I know why the True Realm Bakura is like that, he's always been a bit unstable and now he's Shadow Mad, but you don't have one whit of taint..." 

Bakura shrugged uncomfortably. "Sometimes I don't know myself. For those first two years Ryou had the Ring, I did a lot of watching. I saw a happy little boy with so much light it sickened me. So when I finally had free reign, I wanted him to suffer just like I had. I wanted to break that spirit and make it bow to me." He clenched his fists. "Three thousand years in the Ring had made me bitter. I'd been brooding over the bad things, until it became hard to remember love, hard to remember the good times." 

"....I see." 

Ryou smiled and squeezed Bakura's shoulder slightly. "The story doesn't end there." 

"No..." Bakura agreed. "It doesn't." He sighed, obviously remorseful. "Ryou's scars are the result of seven years of tyranny. My favorite form of punishment for any imagined wrong was tying him down and whipping him... Until finally one day I went too far." 

Bakura and Ryou both shuddered slightly as Sekil's eyes widened in realization. "And you blinded him." 

"Yes..." Ryou said softly. Getting up from his place beside Bakura, he kneeled down in front of Sekil and tilted his head slightly, pulling his hair back and parting it. Sekil sucked in his breath at the long scar across Ryou's temple, which stood out against the pale skin and hair. After a moment Ryou smiled sadly and let his hair drop, covering the scar again. 

"I - I don't know what was so different about that day." Bakura said, staring down at his hands. "But instead of reaching for my whip I pulled out a knife instead... Honest to the gods Sekil, I never meant for it to happen! I hit him, and he fell and cracked his head against the windowsill..." He shuddered, and Ryou returned to sit beside him, wrapping one arm around his big brother's shoulders in an unconscious reversal of their earlier position. 

Sekil bit his lip, glancing off to the side for a few moments, and then looked back at Bakura. "You regret it now, which is the only reason I haven't tried to rip you apart, but I still felt I needed to know all this..." 

Ryou nodded, smiling faintly. "Hai, you did. But thankfully it doesn't end there. You haven't heard how me came to be so close, and _that's_ the most important part." 

Sekil nodded. "I'm still listening." 

"That day sparked off a whole chain of events, starting with a demon named Kuroi posing as my brother Jonathon and taking my place in the Ring." Bakura said. "The Shadow Realm needed a pure heart to sacrifice, and they'd chosen Ryou. Kuroi was just a distraction. Yami and Ishtar were busy chasing him all over town while I was in the Shadow Realm trying to get Ryou back. I'd always beaten him, maybe even hated him for his purity, but when someone else tried to take him from me I realized how much I needed him. Yami and Ishtar eventually managed to kill off Kuroi, and made it back to Ryou's house in time to jury-rig a spell and pull Ryou and I out of the Shadow Realm. In the process, I accidentally gained a mortal body." 

"Ahhh," Sekil nodded in understanding. "The Locking Rituals. Gotta love those." 

Ryou shuddered lightly and rolled his eyes. "After that we actually got a few weeks peace, but the Rituals still hadn't been completed, so the Shadow Realm decided to try again. They didn't want the Item Holders to interfere again, so they put a curse on all the Millennium Items that locked both the yamis and the hikaris into their soulroom. Then they kidnapped Serenity to be their sacrifice. Luckily for us they'd forgotten that our Ring is "dead" and that Bakura and I don't have soulrooms to be locked into. The two of us, along with Joey, went to the Shadow Realm and managed to rescue Serenity." 

Bakura sighed softly, absently rubbing his chest. "Of course, the Rituals had to be done or the Shadow Realm would be loose. To rescue Serenity we had to fight our way through hoards of demon Duel Monsters and two higher demons who called themselves Firas and Briar-Rose. Jonathon sacrificed himself to save my life during that battle, and I figured I could only return the favor. I killed Firas, and then..." 

Bakura trailed off, and Ryou spoke up in a slightly strangled voice. "Briar-Rose shot him. The damn bitch shot him, but it worked..." 

Sekil frowned. "I don't quite understand. The Locking Rituals need a _pure_ heart, don't they? And not only is Chiot here, but... his heart is far from being pure." 

Bakura didn't take offense to the comment. In fact, he actually chuckled bitterly and shrugged. "We don't really understand either. Perhaps in the very act of sacrifice I managed to atone myself, but I don't know. And as for being here, Ishtar and Yami managed to resurrect me." 

"Ahh, that makes a bit more sense, then." Sekil said, then paused. "Wait... the Pharaoh is a necromancer?" 

"Sort of," Bakura said. "As far as I can understand he used the Puzzle to... I dunno, turn back time to when my body was alive," he shrugged. "You'd have to ask him." 

Sekil nodded. "Right then." 

Ryou smiled. "And after that we actually got to finish high school in peace until the whole fiasco with the True Pharaoh started last year." 

"So, at what part did you explain why you two are so close? Because of Chiot's sacrifice?" 

Ryou nodded. "Yeah, and just the fact that when I lost my sight he knew he'd gone too far and began to repent. The rest was just time." 

"Ah ha, now I get it." Sekil nodded sagely. "I'm so much wiser from this conversation." 

"You'd better be!" Bakura threw up his hands and rolled his eyes. "Now no smothering me in my sleep!" 

Sekil laughed a little. "I won't. I'll never be able to look at you in quite the same light, but I still consider you a friend, and that's a feat, considering what you're like back in my home realm. I much rather it here, frankly. The tomb robbers are actually kinda cool, if weird." 

Bakura just snorted, and Ryou grinned. After a moment, though, his grin faded as he remembered something. "You said we had a problem, Bakura?" 

"Do we ever," Bakura said, nodding grimly. "Amoura convinced me to take a drama class with her, and Director-baka's our teacher." 

Ryou rolled his eyes slightly. "That's not so bad." 

Bakura shook his head. "It gets worse. Somehow she remembers at least that there was an "attack" during the play last year. No idea if she actually remembers you were involved or not." 

Ryou frowned. "That shouldn't be possible!" 

"Yeah," Bakura said. "I know." 

~*~

(1) card - since braille is a system of raised dots, you can't just type them onto regular paper. Usually, either a heavy card stock or a thin sheet of rigid plastic are used. And yes, I can read braille. 

(2) - If I may butt in here... Awww! ^^ How cute is the picture of Bakura giving Amoura a piggy-back ride? 

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-) 

WSJ: ^_^ On the first day of Christmas, Bakura gave to me, someone's dead body! 

Sekil: _X That is so not even remotely funny... 

Unmei: We warned you... 

Chiot: Well, since SJ is busy singing about how I used to be, I get to handle notes. *sigh* SJ now has a DeviantART account, if anyone is interested in seeing her drawings. She'll also be posting scraps of story at times too, so check often and maybe you'll catch a preview of some future story. It's , so go check her out. 

Unmei: And for those that have read SJ's Christmas story _Ties of Blood_, yes, she did get home in time for Christmas. 

WSJ: *bounces through wearing an elf hat* Yami got run over by a reindeer, walking home from my house Christmas Eve! Kaiba says there's no such thing as Santa, but as for me and Yugi, we believe! ^o^ 

Yami: -_- Merry Christmas everyone! 

Unmei, Chiot, and Sekil: *wave* Happy holidays! 

WSJ: ^o^ See you after the New Year! 

**Chapter 4:** WSJ: (V/O) Against his better judgment, Bakura stays in the drama class to try and figure out how Director-baka escaped the mind wipe. 

Director-baka: Well now, Mr. Bakura, I hear you and Miss Letazaut had a very eventful summer... 

Bakura: *gulp* 

WSJ: (V/O) And someone unexpected shows up at Tokyo U... 

Ranma: Oi! Ryou! We never finished our fight! 

WSJ: (V/O) Make that _two_ someones... 

Tenchi: Wait for me! 

WSJ: (V/O) Or three...? 

Arca: Larky! 

WSJ: (V/O) Uh oh... All this and more, next time! 

God bless minna-san! 


	4. The Good Fight

WSJ: *wanders in and then flops onto the floor dramatically, throwing her arms out like she's going to make a snow angel* I die. 

Sekil: *sitting in SJ's office chair with his mouth stuffed full of chocolate* Okay, I bite. Why you die? 

WSJ: *spasms, clutching at her throat in a supposed death scene* Because this chapter is going to be hell to write. I die. *goes limp* 

Sekil: *can't help but laugh* 

Unmei: *he and Chiot come in, sweatdropping and carrying a short and genki Yugi between them* SJ, we found him stuck in a snowdrift outside... 

Little Yugi: Loff! 

WSJ: *immediately sits up* Naosuuuu!!! 

Naosu: ^_^ SJ-samaaaa! *bounces out of Unmei's arms to glomp her* 

WSJ: *giggles and hugs him* How'd you know I'd need loff for this chapter? 

Naosu: *looks at her with big eyes* This chappie not loff? 

WSJ: *makes a face* One word. Lark. 

Unmei: *twitch* ...I'm leaving. 

Chiot: *collars him* No you're not. 

Unmei: *siiiigh* 

WSJ: *cuddles Naosu* Well, let's get this over with... 

Sekil: SJ doesn't own YGO in any way, shape, or form. Naosu, me, and my siblings belong to Ebony Kuroneko. Kawari, Nozomi, and any other Negative Realmers mentioned belong to High Crystal Guardian. Amoura, Lisa, and Amoura's family belong to Brood Mayran. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi... or whatever. Ranma Saotome belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. Tenchi Masaki belongs to his creator, whoever he is. 0.o Various OCs belong to WSJ. 

Naosu: Loff! 

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-) 

The Yamis of Tokyo U: Sophomore 

Chapter 4 -- The Good Fight 

_Quote of the chapter:_

"You're mental."  
"Yeah, I know. I get that a lot."  
~(Draco Malfoy and Malik Ishtar; Skyla Doragono, A New Generation of Priests) 

The week passed like any other. Or at least, any other in the lives of a half-god and his mortal-but-not-quite-normal friends. Arca seemed to be fitting right in with campus life, bouncing all over the place and driving Sekil crazy. As for Sekil himself, he and Ryou were fast on the way to becoming very good friends. They'd seen neither hide nor hair of Lark, for which Ryou and Bakura were thankful. According to Sekil, he was living in an apartment on the outskirts of Domino, and was looking for a job. 

The morning spars were business as usual. That is, Ryou and Bakura beat each other up for awhile, and then took whatever they had left and turned on Sekil and Yami. Slowly, though, the two were beginning to improve, and by the next Sunday morning Ryou and Bakura had them fighting practice spars against each other. Sekil enjoyed this immensely, because (he said) it was probably the only time he'd get to fight a pharaoh and not get killed for it. And after all, technically the Fates Realm Yami wasn't _his_ pharaoh. Yami just grumbled, but it was better than fighting Bakura. 

Unfortunately, Monday morning came all too soon for a certain ex-yami. 

"Well class, today you'll receive instructions for your first project, which will be due next week." Director-Baka grinned, ignoring the groans of her class. "You are to write and perform a 5 - 10 minute sketch that illustrates what you did this summer. Tea Gardner and Yugi Moto have special permission to work as partners, and so do Amoura Letazaut and Yami Bakura." Her smile changed to a smirk as she glanced at Bakura. "I _especially_ look forward to seeing what you two come up with. I've been told that you had a very interesting summer." 

Bakura resisted the urge to bang his head against his desk, and settled for sighing instead. He'd figured that tales of his and Amoura's misadventures would get around campus eventually, he just wished that Director-Baka hadn't found out about them quite so fast. 

After class, he and Yugi headed back to the dorms, while Gwen, Tea, and Amoura went on to their next class. "This is going to be fun," Yugi laughed, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Tea and I are going to have our work cut out for us figuring out what to tell and what not to tell." 

Bakura rolled his eyes. "'My yami became mortal' is definitely out. Amoura and I aren't going to have a much easier time of it." 

Yugi smirked, elbowing the thief in the ribs. "Suuuure, all _you_ two have to do is get up there and start making out for five minutes. That pretty much sums up your summer." Still laughing, he dodged the whack Bakura sent his way. 

"C'mere you overgrown midget," Bakura growled. "When I get my hands on you..." 

"Er... excuse us..." 

Yugi and Bakura paused, turning to look at the owner of the voice. It turned out to be a tall man with black, spiked hair, dressed in black pants and a tan jacket. Beside him stood another man with black hair pulled into a pigtail, wearing red and black Chinese clothes, and a girl with short blue hair dressed in a jumper-style school uniform. 

Bakura blinked. "Can we help you?" What in the world were three high school students doing at Tokyo University? 

"Yeah," said the first man, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Um... Are you related to Ryou Bakura?" 

Bakura rolled his eyes and flicked his white bangs out of his eyes. "Obviously. I'm his older brother, Yami Bakura. This is a good friend of ours, Yugi Moto." Yugi bowed, and Bakura raised an eyebrow at the visitors. 

"I'm Ranma Saotome," the pigtailed man said. "And this is Tenchi Masaki, and Akane Tendo. Bakura-san trains at my uncle's dojo, and over the summer the three of us were supposed to get together at _my_ dojo-" he got elbowed in the side by Akane. "Fine, Akane's dojo, to spar. Bakura-san never showed." 

Bakura grinned. "Ahhh, I see. Sorry about that, Ryou had a busy summer. He got called away to Egypt for a family emergency." He glanced around. "Actually, if you'd like to finish your fight, Ryou should be just getting out of class." 

Tenchi grinned. "That's what we came for." 

It didn't take long to find Ryou, Sekil, Yami, and Joey, who were just returning to the sophomore dorms from their respective classes. "Oy, Bakura-san!" Ranma called. "We never finished our fight!" 

Ryou turned, his face breaking into a grin when he beheld the familiar auras. "No, we didn't. Sorry about that, Saotome-kun." 

Ranma waved him off. "No big deal. We're here now, so let's finish it!" 

"Give me a minute to change," Ryou said, nodding. "I hate having to fight in jeans." Tenchi and Ranma nodded, and Ryou hurried inside. 

Sekil sidled over to Bakura, a curious look on his face. "What's up with these guys?" 

"Apparently, the dojo that Ryou and I train at is owned by Ranma's uncle. Sometime over the summer he and Tenchi dropped by and started up a spar with Ryou, but had to stop in the middle. They were going to recommence at Ranma's dojo in a week or two, but then Ryou got called to Egypt." 

"Oooo, okay." Sekil grinned. "So we get to watch Unmei kick butt, eh?" 

Bakura chuckled, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Probably." 

A minute or two later Ryou returned, tying the gold-banded black belt of his gi. Ranma's eyebrows went up when he saw it, and he whistled quietly. "That's impressive." 

Ryou smiled. "Thanks. I've worked hard to get it." 

"Of course, all the black belts in the world won't save you from _us_." Tenchi grinned, and Ryou chuckled. 

"Hai, of course." 

"So let's start already!" Ranma said, cracking his knuckles. "I'd like to get done sometime before sunset!" 

"Hai, of course," Ryou repeated. 

Everyone else backed away, leaving the three with a large grassy space to fight in. By now a crowd of students and a few teachers was beginning to form, and Yami and Yugi exchanged glances. Bakura stepped forward. "As a black belt in martial arts myself, I will oversee this match." He raised his hand over his head. "A three-way battle, anything goes." 

The three fighters backed into a rough triangular formation, and bowed. Bakura brought his hand down in a slashing motion. "Begin!" 

They hesitated for just an instant, and then all three jumped forward at once. Just before he reached the other two, Ryou dropped to the ground and swept one leg around in a wide arc, trying to trip them up. Both of them managed to avoid it, but Tenchi stumbled a bit, allowing Ranma to get in a solid hit to the back of his head. "Hey!" 

Ranma grinned, but a split second later he yelped and dodged to the side as Ryou came out of no where to attack while he was distracted. Ryou and Ranma exchanged blows for a minute, before leaping away from each other to regroup. Tenchi moved in to assail Ranma, leaving Ryou a moment to catch his breath and plan his next move. With so many people around, he didn't really want to employ his powers too much. He hoped Ranma and Tenchi would have the sense to do the same. 

Ryou crouched, waiting for the right moment. Covertly he reached out, dampening their aura-sense with his own powers. That, combined with the fact that they were so focused on each other, meant that Ranma and Tenchi didn't even notice when they danced past Ryou. Smirking, the telepath leaped, managing to land several solid hits on each of them before they realized what was happening. 

"Yay Ryou-chan!!" 

Sekil glanced off to the side, and couldn't help but grin. He nudged Yami in the side. "Check out the cheerleaders." 

Yami looked over, and laughed softly. Arca and Yugi were bouncing up and down, waving their hands over their head like cheerleaders. If Gwen hadn't been in class, she probably would have been doing the same. "If they manage to find pom-poms I'm disowning them." 

"I think Joey already has," Sekil chuckled, pointing out where the blond was standing and trying hard to pretend he didn't know them. 

Yami smirked. "If it was Mai fighting he'd be doing the exact same thing." 

Sekil stifled laughter at the idea of Joey bouncing around like Arca and Yugi currently were. "That'd be a sight to see." 

Yami grinned. "No kidding." 

Behind them, in the dorm parking lot, a green Mitsubishi pulled into a parking space. Cars came and went all the time, and Sekil and Yami were too caught up in watching the fight to notice that the driver of this one was very familiar. He turned off the car and got out, frowning and looking vaguely annoyed. He started across the grass toward Sekil, looking decidedly uncomfortable in jeans and a cotton shirt. When he saw the fight he paused, watching Ryou with a curious expression on his face. 

Out in the center of the field, things were beginning to heat up. None of the three were willing to visibly show their powers with so many other people about (not to mention the fact that someone stupid could get themselves hurt), but that didn't mean they weren't using them. All three had subtly stepped up their speed, throwing punches and kicks and dodging away faster than what was technically humanly possible. Ranma was using a very mild version of the Hiryu Shoten Ha to super-heat the air directly around his fists, delivering punches that stung with more than just impact. Tenchi had summoned very small versions of the Light Hawk Wings, though in an invisible form, and was using them to block various attacks. Ryou was making good use of his telepathic powers, dampening and scrambling his opponents' senses to throw them off balance. 

After one particularly vicious mental "attack", Ranma found his sense of balance screwed and ended up falling over. At just the same moment, Ryou grabbed Tenchi by the collar and tossed him on top of Ranma. Then, grinning triumphantly and breathing hard, Ryou put one foot on Tenchi's back. "Checkmate." 

Bakura couldn't help but grin as he raised his hand over his head again and declared Ryou the winner. Ryou kept his opponents on the ground for just an instant longer before he removed his foot and leaned down to give them a hand up. 

"That was awesome," Ranma said, dusting himself off after bowing to Ryou. "Guess I'll have to train more." 

Ryou chuckled. "Then come back and challenge me again. That was a great work-out." 

Tenchi grinned. "You bet we will." 

Akane smiled as she made her way over to them. "That was amazing, Bakura-san!" 

"Thank you." Ryou said politely, nodding to them. He waved as they turned to leave, then headed over to where Bakura, Yami, and Sekil were waiting with water and a towel. Perhaps it was all the adrenaline still in his system, but he didn't notice the aura that was once again coming their way. 

"That was a good fight, Ry," Bakura commented as he handed Ryou his water. "Your defense looked a little sloppy, though." 

"Yeah," Ryou agreed, taking a long drink. "I was having so much fun I kept forgetting to concentrate on what I was doing." 

"You still won," Yami said, looking amused. "No wonder you have multiple black belts." 

"Well, I cheated a little," Ryou admitted, tapping his temple. 

Sekil chuckled and winked. "That's acceptable." 

"Someday it'll be _you_ out there so I can kick your butt," Ryou challenged with a grin. 

"Maybe, I have to get better first. For now, you should go shower. You smell like an icky tomb robber." Sekil grinned and ignored Bakura sticking his tongue out at him. He slung an arm around Ryou's shoulders. "Here's to stinky roommates!" 

The man that had been approaching them was, in fact, Sekil's twin brother Lark. It's not easy to sneak up on a telepath, let alone two, so Lark was prepared to go with it. He was just behind them, and reached out to put a hand on Sekil's arm. An instant before Lark would have grabbed him, Sekil moved, taking Ryou's wrist to raise it up in a victory pose. Lark's hand landed on Ryou's shoulder instead, several of his fingers resting against the skin that was exposed by the loose fit of the gi. 

Something very interesting happened then. 

Ryou jerked, as though an electric shock had gone through him. Then he froze, whimpering softly in pain or fear. Bakura frowned, obviously concerned, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Otouto?" 

Lark blinked and removed his hand, taking a step back. As though some sort of circuit had been broken, Ryou collapsed to his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Sekil just stared at him for a moment with his mouth open, then turned on his brother. "Lark! What'd you do?!" 

"I did nothing!" Lark insisted, unconsciously clenching his hands into fists. 

At just that moment, Joey, Arca, and Yugi ran up, clamoring and asking if Ryou was all right. Yami had to raise his voice to tell them to move back and give him some room. 

"I'm all right..." came Ryou's voice faintly. He was still on the ground, but had steadied himself. Now he was kneeling with his head in his hands, cringing away from Lark. "Just... pray don't touch me again." 

Yami and Bakura exchanged startled looks as they suddenly understood, and Bakura cursed. "We should have thought of that!" 

"Thought of what?" Lark snapped, and they all noticed how Ryou cringed again at the sound of his voice. 

Bakura growled softly. "You're scaring him," Stepping forward, Bakura shoved Lark backwards, stepping between the mage and Ryou. "Never, _ever_ touch my hikari again, Mahaado!" 

Lark snarled as he regained his balance. "Impertinent tomb robber!" Raising his hands, the mage prepared to call down his magic. 

Bakura gulped, instinctively throwing up his arms to shield his face, though that was barely any protection at all against magic attacks. Perhaps getting Lark angry had not been such a wise idea. Sensing the build up of the magical energies, Ryou gave a muted scream and buried his head in his hands, visibly shaking. 

Sekil muttered a curse, reaching out telepathically to grab a hold of his twin's mind to keep Lark from attacking. To his surprise, he found a protective barrier already in place, locking Lark away from his magic. He blinked, but didn't have time to think about it as he suddenly sensed Ryou calling up his own powers, no doubt to throw Lark across the lawn. Switching tactics instantly, Sekil turned to his roommate and gently contained his powers, frowning at the way Ryou whimpered when he felt his powers being surpressed. 

Bakura heard it too, and after peeking at the furious but unmoving Lark, he moved to kneel by his brother. "Shh, shh, Ryou, you're all right..." 

After a moment more, Sekil felt Ryou's mental battering against his barriers lessen, and then cease entirely as Ryou collapsed against Bakura, burying his face against the ex-yami's shirt and shuddering with surpressed sobs. Sekil spared him a pitying glance, then looked over at his brother. 

Lark was glowing ever so slightly golden, and wasn't blinking. Looking around, Sekil noticed that Yami had taken the Puzzle back from Yugi, and was currently locked in a staring contest with Lark. The Puzzle was glowing the same shade as Lark, confirming Sekil's suspicions that it was the former pharaoh who'd held off Lark's attack. After a long moment, Yami stepped forward. "Come, Lark, is it? We have much we should discuss." 

The glow from around Lark faded, and he twitched slightly, but made no move toward Bakura other than to give him a contemptuous sneer. He gave another to Sekil, then turned to follow Yami. "Yes... pharaoh." 

Sekil breathed a quiet sigh of relief, then looked at Bakura and Ryou. "Is he gonna be all right?" 

Bakura nodded, rubbing Ryou's back gently as the hikari slowly regained control of himself. "When Lark touched him it must have set off the aftereffects of mage poisoning. Damn, I thought that was only an issue with _our_ Mahaado! Guess not. Then, when Lark tried to attack me, I think he actually flashbacked for a moment." 

Sekil must have looked confused, because Yugi stepped over to explain softly so Ryou wouldn't hear just as he was beginning to calm down. "Before, when niisan and Bakura and Ryou went to Egypt to confront Mahaado, he attacked Bakura and knocked him unconscious, then tortured Ryou by touching him and making him relive the pain of being poisoned. Ryou must have thought that was happening again." 

Sekil shook his head. "In a way, it was. You were wrong about one thing though, Chiot. I don't think it was just Lark that caused that. He may look like your Mahaado, but he's only half our soul. I think it was me and him touching Ryou at the same time that set it off. As long as we're careful, it shouldn't happen again." 

Bakura looked oddly serious as he hugged the trembling Ryou against him, making Sekil think of a wolf protecting its cubs. "It better not." 

~*~

Seto Kaiba leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms over his head until his back cracked loudly. He winced, then sighed, dropping his arms so that his hands rested in his lap. He eyed what was displayed on the computer screen, then sighed again. Spinning his office chair, he brushed some of his - no, _Mokuba's_ - hair out of his eyes. Outside the window, the sun was setting in spectacular shades of red and gold, and Seto sighed for a third time as he watched it. 

Another school day was over, and here he sat in Kaiba Corporation's CEO office while Mokuba catnapped in his soulroom after a hard day of flirting with Rebecca. He'd come here straight after school despite Mokuba's protests, and had been working ever since. 

That was partially because he'd been slacking the past few days, allowing Mokuba to go off with his friends. But it was also to get his mind off the dream he'd had last night. Ever since he'd "died" and taken up residence in Mokuba's body, Seto had never dreamed. 

Last night, for the first time in nearly four years, he had. 

It had started out fuzzy, indistinct. The gentle caress of a hand, a whiff of some exotic perfume, silky hair splayed across his chest as its owner rested against him. Then it had all sharpened, into one visible image and one half-heard conversation. A woman, pale, with bright blue eyes and a ready grin. "Can you believe it?" Seto had the distinct impression that she had been the one speaking. 

"No," a voice had replied, one that was both familiar and different, both his own and not. "I can hardly wait to announce it to the world!" 

A giggle then, and a hug, and a head laid against his shoulder, her body fitting easily against his but for the swell of her belly, still small but not unnoticed. "At least your loins are looser than the former pharaoh's." she'd teased. 

A chuckle. "That Atemu had no children is the will of the gods. Shahi is a darling and I know 'Temu would never have traded her, even for a child of his body." 

"I suppose not," his lover, wife? had said. "Although yesterday she threw such a tantrum that Teana was nearly ready to throw her off the balcony." 

"Why am I not surprised? I certainly hope you are never so rough with our child." He'd run a hand over her belly then, and she'd giggled again. 

"Of course not," she'd said, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. "How could I ever be rough with any part of you?" 

Here, Seto had begun to wake. But half-heard, on the very edge of his consciousness, was one more whispered phrase from the man he feared he knew the identity of. 

"My beloved Kisara..." 

Seto shook himself out of his thoughts, growling softly. He'd long ago abandoned his ideals that magic wasn't real, but that still didn't mean he had to like it. He _hated_ the thought of being controlled, especially by some past life he didn't even remember. 

But still... 

The way the woman named Kisara and the man he knew to be his former self had spoken to each other... Seto, in the seventeen years before his "death" had never been in love. And now, being a spirit stuck in another's body, he was likely to never love at all. The way the two had teased and jibed, always with a warm fondness coloring their tones, had made him a little jealous for the woman he couldn't remember loving as he so obviously had. That Mokuba now had a girlfriend only made it worse. 

Something else occurred to Seto and he blinked, sitting straight up in his chair. Over the years, Yami and Bakura had spoken a lot about reincarnation. According to them, the souls of those reincarnated didn't pass on to the afterlife, but were reborn. The two of them were an exception, since they'd been sealed away but had somehow managed to be reborn in Yugi and Ryou anyhow. But... 

If Seto really was the reincarnation of a priest and later pharaoh, as Yami seemed so sure, then that ancient-priest part of him was still locked away in his mind somewhere, meaning he hadn't passed on to the afterlife. Was that woman, that Kisara, waiting there for the man she loved? Pining year after year in a place that was supposed to be paradise? Seto hoped not. But if Yami were to be believed, that was probably the case. 

Seto frowned, brooding. His past self had loved that woman. That woman had probably been waiting three thousand years in the afterlife for him to join her. 

...And after all, Mokuba didn't need him. He was sixteen now, and even if he didn't show it, he had to be getting tired of his big brother always hovering over his shoulder. He certainly wouldn't want Seto around when he really fell in love, got married. Even if Mokuba hadn't really thought about that yet, Seto knew it would come up one day. 

If Seto had died that day when Kuroi Karasu tried to kill him, he knew Mokuba would have been devastated. But they'd all grown up since then, had time to get used to this... this... _half-death_ that Seto was living. Surely just one more step to real death wouldn't be so much of a shock... And if in the afterlife, he could find Kisara, and maybe remember what it was like to be loved... 

Perhaps... 

Perhaps now, on the edge of so much change, it would be easier to say good-bye. 

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-) 

WSJ: ;_; 

Sekil: What's your problem? 

WSJ: *bursts into tears and buries her head in Naosu's shoulder* Waaaaahhh!! 

Naosu: 0.o; Loff? 

WSJ: This chapter's so shoooort!! *wails* 

Unmei: *sweatdrop* "Short", she says... 

Chiot: *snort* Suuure... Short to HCG, maybe... 

Sekil: *pokes WSJ with a handy stick* Come on, quit blubbering, you have notes to go over. 

WSJ: Waaaaah!!! 

Naosu: O.o Um... Naosu think SJ-sama only cry 'cause she not want to let Naosu go... 

Unmei: Hm... Knowing her, that's probably right. 

Chiot: Peachy. We should start counting how many times we get stuck doing notes... 

Yami: *speaks up for the first time* WSJ's DeviantArt name is Archangel-Unmei, for those interested. 

Naosu, Sekil, and Chiot: *look at Unmei* 

Unmei: .... *sweatdrop* 

Chiot: Hmm... I smell a spoiler... *shrugs* Ah well. For the next month or so SJ won't be writing much, because two of her favorite teachers are pregnant, so she's making baby blankets for them. AND she's trying to get her fledgling illustration and design business off the ground. AND if that doesn't work out, she'll be looking for a job, now that exams are over. 

Sekil: SJ! You got this done before your deadline! You said you'd finish it before February 1 and you did. You should be proud, not sobbing. 

Unmei: You may as well give up, Naosu's right. If she keeps crying, she gets to keep hugging the kawaii little sugarball, so therefore she's not likely to stop anytime soon. 

Sekil: *sigh* 

Yami: SJ had considerable fun writing all of Seto's dream sequence, and yes, you should look forward to more of that in the future. There's a big huge subplot in the works featuring Seto, but I'm not allowed to say any more than that at this present time. 

Nozomi: *stalks in, looking around for Naosu* Aha. So this is where you ran off to. 

Naosu: ^_^ Loff, mou hitori no boku! *waves as best he can with SJ clinging to his neck* 

Chiot: *dryly* You're going to need a crow bar. 

Nozomi: Hmm... And I suppose after that fiasco with Ebony I'm not allowed to Mind Crush her... 

Unmei: Sorry, but no. We need her sane. Who knows what kind of horrible things she'd do to us if she were out of her mind? 

Nozomi: She has a mind to be out of? 

Unmei: Good point. 

Nozomi: *glances upward* Well, these notes have stretched on for several pages too far anyway, so I shall have to kidnap my aibou and return before Ebony misses us. 

Sekil: Good luck. 

Nozomi: *snorts and wanders over to WSJ, and taps her on the back of the head* 

WSJ: *sniffles and looks up* Hmm? 

Nozomi: *sigh* May I please have my Worthy Light back? Ebony needs him. 

WSJ: *instant sparkly eyes* Nozomi!!! *grins shrewdly* Only if I get oooone little thing in return... 

Nozomi: Yes yes, just be quick about it. 

Sekil, Unmei, Chiot, and Yami: *face palm at Nozomi's stupidity* 

WSJ: Wheee!! *glomps Nozomi* 

Nozomi: *twitches* 

Naosu: 0.o 

WSJ: *backs off, grinning* Sorry, couldn't resist. You guys can go now. 

Nozomi: *another small twitch* ...Thank you. Come, Worthy Light. 

Naosu: ^_^ *gleefully waves to the Fates Realmers as he leaves* Loffu! 

WSJ: *calls after them* Tell Ebby to hurry with chapter nine of TU! 

Chiot: -_- Just get going on the preview already... 

**Chapter 5:** WSJ: (V/O) Thankfully, Ryou's all right after his little run-in with Lark. 

Ryou: I am reminded why I _can't stand_ your brother... 

Sekil: *sweatdrop* 

WSJ: (V/O) And... Not much else happens. Oh, except for a date. 

Duke: *hums softly as he gets ready* 

WSJ: (V/O) And more classes. 

Ryou: *sighs* 

WSJ: (V/O) And more complications, of course! 

Bakura: What do you mean she has "second sight"?!? 

WSJ: (V/O) All this and more, next time! 

God bless minna-san! 


	5. Crippling Fury

WSJ: (wading through a waist-high pile of pastel colored, bunny-eared Kuriboh) Well minna, I'm back! 

Unmei: Oh joy. 

Yami: Took you long enough. 

WSJ: Sorry! I haven't been inspired! And when I _was_ inspired, it was to do several Fruits Basket fics, not this. 

Chiot: ...What's with the monsters? 

WSJ: (sigh) Plot bunnies. Fever induced plot bunnies. There's nothing worse than being stuck in bed sick for five days, except perhaps for the homework that comes afterward. 

Chiot: (pokes a few of the fluff balls) No joke. 

WSJ: Hmm... Let's see, a couple notes... Someone asked who my favorite OC is. (smirk) 

Sekil: (inches away from her) 

WSJ: Actually, you haven't met her yet. She comes into play later on. As for those that are around now, I'd definitely have to say either Jonathon or Director-Baka. I'm also rather fond of Amoura, but she's not mine. 

Unmei: As for Serenity's birthday, she doesn't officially have one. Same thing with age, all we're told is that she's younger than Joey is. WSJ's put her two years younger than me, and given her a birthday of May 31. 

WSJ: Well, when I started this thing I gave myself five chapters to get to the main plot. I'm close, but I think there's going to be one more chapter of filler fluff before the real fun begins. 

Chiot: Huh... The notes this time are short... WSJ does not own anything but various OCs. There, short enough for you? (wanders away to find coffee) 

WSJ: Oh yes, and this chapter is entirely Kat-chan's fault. I needed them to do something evil to Director-Baka, and Kat-chan shoved Sister Act II down my throat... Not to mention Mulan II... (snickers softly) "Eeeeee!" So yes. This is all Kat's fault. Kat-chan? This chapter's for you, my ever-awesome partner in crime. 

Warning: This chapter gets a little bit vulgar at some points, because Ryou's in a bad mood and people can be stupid. I'm sorry if it offends some people. 

Muse-ic of the moment: _Warrior is a Child_ by Twila Paris, and the entire soundtrack to the video game _Phantom Brave_ (which I am ADDICTED to. Thus another reason I haven't been writing lately...) 

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-) 

The Yamis of Tokyo U: Sophomore 

Chapter 5 Crippling Fury 

_Quote of the fic:_

"How splendid! The passion, the drama, the ferocity!"  
"Oh, shut up before we officially have to name ourselves a soap opera."  
~(Pegasus and Yami; DarkGatomon; As If!) 

Yami returned to the dorms two hours later to find Ryou peacefully asleep in his bed and Yugi, Sekil, and Bakura locked in a riveting game of... 

"Got any three's?" 

"Nope." 

...Go Fish. 

Yami snorted softly, taking a seat on the edge of Sekil's bed, since all the chairs were occupied. "Don't you have anything better to do?" 

"Like what?" Sekil asked, accepting an ace from Yugi and setting aside the pair. "Debating the fact that Unmei's probably about ready to kill my brother? Nevermind the fact that I'm equally to blame." 

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Stop it Sekil, the fact remains that you're a good friend while your brother is a little less than sane. In cases like that, it really doesn't matter who's actually to blame." 

"I guess so," Sekil sighed. "Where is Lark, anyway?" 

"Arca took him shopping," Yami said, flicking an imaginary speck of dirt from his leather pants. "And I don't think he'll be back anytime soon, today or otherwise. He's not fond of Bakuras, although this Bakura isn't the one he should hate. I did manage to explain to him just why Ryou and Bakura are distrustful of Mahaado, and he understood and told me he'd try and keep his distance." 

"Well that's a relief," Sekil sighed, then caught Bakura's look. "What? He's not _completely_ off his rocker, you know." 

"Just a few grains short of the Sahara." Bakura muttered, tossing down his last set of cards. "Damnit Yugi, you win again." 

The hikari grinned, and Yami reached over to ruffle his hair, giving him back the Millennium Puzzle as he did. "Like yami like hikari." 

A soft groan from the bed caught their attention. Sekil turned around in his chair, and Bakura got up to lean over his little brother. "Ryou? You okay? How do you feel?" 

"Like I got ran over by a Greyhound bus," the telepath said sourly, sitting up with only a little help from Bakura. "Damn, I really don't like Lark." 

Sekil winced, though whether it was from hearing kind and gentle Ryou curse or the insult to his brother no one could tell. "Eh... Wasn't entirely his fault, 'mei. I think, I _hope_ that only happened because it was both of us touching you. It shouldn't happen again." 

"It better not," Ryou scowled, and for a moment he looked so much like Bakura in a bad mood that Yugi gave a little squeak of surprise. A moment later the scowl softened and Ryou sighed, running a hand through his thick bangs. "Sorry," he said wearily. "I feel like I just finished a six hour spar with someone ten feet tall armed with big fists and a battering ram. I'm not mad at any of you." 

"It's all right Ryou," Yugi said, unable to keep from giggling at the mental picture. "We understand. Come on Yami, let's go see what Tea's up to." 

The pharaoh rolled his eyes, then gave a little wave and followed his hikari out of the dorm. Ryou laid down again, and with a sigh rolled over so he was facing the wall. He drifted back to sleep listening to Sekil and Bakura start up a game of poker. 

When he awoke the next morning, he was barely in a better mood. Normally, after a fight as good as the one he'd had with Tenchi and Ranma, he'd stretch out and then go for a long walk to work off some of the adrenaline. Instead, he'd been in bed for most of the rest of the day and night, not to mention the fact that he'd been touched by, more or less, a Mahaado. When he tried to roll out of bed, he had to stifle a groan. He was so _stiff_, and he ached everywhere. 

Stumbling into the bathroom, Ryou splashed his face with cold water, which woke him up better than coffee ever had. After a moment's debate, he decided to forego the shower this morning; a warm one would put him back to sleep, and a cold one would just make his muscles more stiff. 

Making his way back into the bedroom, he groped around on the desk until he found his watch. Holding it up to his ear, he hit the button on the side and listened to the soft voice recite the time. His first class started in about an hour, and he'd overslept. 

Growling softly under his breath, Ryou turned to face the other bed. Sure enough, Sekil was gone. Until this moment, Ryou had assumed he'd still been asleep and hadn't even bothered to reach out and touch his aura. Ryou had never been a morning person, and when he first woke up he had what Bakura jokingly called 'tunnel-vision'. He sensed just what was in front of his feet so he didn't trip over anything, and that was about it. 

Sighing, Ryou went over and picked up the note sitting on Sekil's pillow. The braille was clumsy, and felt like it was barely more than holes punched in a piece of paper with an ink pen, but the effort made Ryou smile a little. He wondered if Sekil actually knew braille, or if he'd used a dictionary. 

_'Ryou: You were dead asleep when the alarm went off, you didn't even twitch. I figured you'd just as soon skip spars this morning and let you sleep. You can beat me up later for that if you feel like it. I'll be in class until noon. Ciao! Sekil'_

Ryou set the note on the desk, then rotated his shoulders to attempt to get the kinks out of them. It didn't work very well, and for a moment he debated just skipping class and going back to bed. Then he shook his head. This was his first session of this particular class, it wouldn't be a very good idea to miss it, no matter how awful he felt. 

In a few minutes' time he was dressed, and he left the dorm as soon as he could. The class was situated about halfway across campus, and since he had to walk Ryou figured he'd better give his sore self as much time as he could. He carried his backpack on his shoulders, his laptop case slung across his chest like a bandolier. Though he had no idea whether the day was sunny or overcast, his sunglasses were firmly on his nose, and he swung his white-tipped cane back and forth in front of him as though he really needed it to find his way. As he'd told Sekil, it never paid to take chances when ordinary people and his powers were concerned. 

In the end he was nearly late, and walked into the classroom rather quickly. Someone had been crossing in front of the door at the same time, and she gave a muffled shout as she tripped over Ryou's stout oak cane. His reflexes kicked in and he managed to catch her before she fell, trying not to wince as his muscles screamed in protest. 

The room went silent as Ryou carefully set his classmate back on her feet, murmuring a quiet apology to her. He could feel, as well as sense, the eyes of everyone on the room on him. They were all students, the teacher was not yet here. 

A chair scraped back, and Ryou carefully kept his face cast down as he 'watched' the aura come nearer and listened to the footsteps. It was a boy, shorter than Ryou, though stouter. His aura reeked of superiority and scorn, and Ryou had to fight not to wrinkle his nose at what was, to him, a nearly tangible stench. 

"Well, well, well," the boy said slowly, swaggering up to Ryou. He'd been in one of Ryou's classes last year, his name was Tohma. He'd been a bit of a bully last year, but he seemed to have gotten quite a bit worse over the summer. "Seems the rumors are true." 

"What rumors?" Ryou asked, keeping his voice light and curious. 

"Rumors that the little blind boy is still on campus. What I want to know is why." 

"Why?" Ryou repeated, struggling to keep his voice innocent. This day just kept getting better and better... 

"Why're you still here?" Tohma asked, and Ryou could hear the sneer in his voice. "Are you just playing around, along for the ride with your big brother? Here just to show people you can? You're taking up dorm space and class seats that should go to other people. Both of us know a cripple like you won't be of any use in the _real_ world, no matter how many degrees you've got." 

Ryou bristled, losing the fight with his mounting temper. Tohma might have just been saying things that he knew would make him mad, but the grain of truth in them still stung. The word 'cripple' was the last straw. He'd heard it a lot over the past few years, mostly whispered behind his back by people who had no business talking about him. 

In an instant, Ryou'd dropped his cane and grabbed Tohma by the collar. Spinning on one foot, he slammed the shorter man back against the wall beside the door. "Say that again," he snarled, his nose an inch from Tohma's. "I dare you." 

He could sense Tohma's scorn, no real fear at all. "That was a lucky grab. Your brother teach you that? I hear he's a martial artist, and that you think you're one too. That's cheap, trying to make people think better of you by hiring a couple guys to throw a fight out in the middle of a field where everyone will see it and think you're some great marvel." 

Ryou ground his teeth together, his fists shaking in anger. Tohma knew he was mad, and smirked at him. "Bet you couldn't even hit me." 

Growling softly under his breath, Ryou drew back a fist. He sensed Tohma's eyes widening, and a small finger of fear crept into the bully's mind for the first time. The students behind them were still hushed, staring at the drama unfolding before them. 

"Boys!" 

Ryou winced as someone grabbed his wrist, jerking him back from Tohma. He went willingly enough, some small part of him horrified at what he'd been about to do. The rest of him was still angry. 

The person who'd grabbed his wrist, the teacher, was still talking in a loud, scolding voice. "-and I honestly don't care if you feel like fighting, but do it outside of my classroom. Do you both hear me?" 

"Yes sir..." Tohma and Ryou both muttered. 

"Good," the teacher nodded, still holding onto Ryou's left wrist. "Now - Good God!" 

Too late, Ryou realized his mistake. He tried to snatch his wrist back, but the teacher had already tightened his grip, staring at the rose scar across the back of Ryou's hand, and the twisting pattern of vines and leaves that snaked itself most of the way to his elbow. 

Students were crowding around now, Tohma in the lead. "Wow!" he sneered. "Not only is he blind, he's a masochist too. What's the matter, not enough money to get it tattooed on, so you used a knife instead?" 

Ryou snarled at him. "You don't know anything!" Desperately, he fought down his panic. He _hated_ being the center of attention, especially when the attention was on his scars. It was bad enough when Sekil had caught him shirtless, at least he deserved to know. These idiots didn't care, wouldn't understand, didn't need to know. 

With a hard heave, Ryou managed to jerk his wrist out of the teacher's grasp. He pushed his way through the crowd of students, barely pausing long enough to stoop and grab his cane. Then, not even pretending to use it, he ran. 

When Sekil came back to his dorm just after 12:30 to pick up his books for his next class, he found Ryou sitting on his bed with his knees drawn up to his chest. His fists were clenched around the material of his pants so tightly that the knuckles were turning white, and his eyes were squeezed shut just about as hard. He was trembling violently, and Sekil's eyes widened in worry as he dropped his bookbag and hastened toward the other telepath. 

Two feet away he was forced to stop, wincing at the waves of emotion coming off the blind man. At first, Sekil had been afraid he was sick or hurt, but that wasn't the case. Ryou wasn't trembling in pain, or in fear. He was _angry_. 

Gulping softly, Sekil reached out mentally to snag Bakura, who was thankfully in his dorm. A moment later the former tomb robber stuck his head in the door, looking puzzled. "Sekil, what-" he stopped when he saw Ryou. 

Bakura jumped to conclusions, just as Sekil had at first, and nearly ran to Ryou's side, reaching out to put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Ryou, are you-" 

For the second time in as many minutes he stopped in the middle of a sentence as Ryou turned on him, grabbing his wrist in a grip like iron. His eyes flashed open as he _growled_, and involuntarily Bakura leaned back. "Otouto, calm down, it's only Sekil and I. What's wrong?" 

Ryou's hostile look vanished and he let go of Bakura, though he was still scowling a little. Sekil felt his anger taper slightly, at least enough for Sekil to come closer and sit down on Ryou's other side without fear of scorching himself. The rage was still there, simmering beneath the surface, and Sekil shuddered slightly as he wondered what in the world could make even-tempered Ryou that furious. 

"We made another mistake," Ryou said bitterly, causing Bakura and Sekil to exchange wide-eyed glances. Ryou held up his left hand, palm away from him as though he were admiring the rose scar that spread across the back of his hand and wrist. "This damned scar was obviously no accident. We should have thought to keep it covered up before now. Now I'm not only blind as a bat, I'm a masochist too," He sneered, and Bakura winced, though he hoped the anger wasn't directed at him. He'd only seen Ryou this angry once before, and he'd always hoped he never would again. Wrath of the gods apparently applied to half-mortal demi-gods, too. 

Sekil was worried too. "What happened, 'mei?" 

Ryou shook his head, still scowling a little. "Nothing that hasn't happened before... They just went farther this time. He had the _nerve_ to accuse me of hiring Tenchi and Ranma to throw the fight on purpose! How _dare_ he! I worked hard for every single one of my black belts!" 

"Of course you did," Bakura said firmly, putting a hand on Ryou's shoulder again. This time he wasn't attacked. "_We_ know that. Everyone who matters to you knows that. What does it matter what a few bullies think?" 

Ryou sighed and shook his head again, his anger abating a little more. "I know, I know... I get so damn tired of it, though!" 

Bakura squeezed his shoulder. "Why don't you get some sleep, Ry. Or better yet, call and have a nice long talk with Serenity." 

Ryou gave him a wane smile. "Maybe I will. Thanks niisan." 

Bakura gave him a warm smile back, though he couldn't see it. "Any time... hikari." 

Ryou smirked and little and made shooing motions at the both of them before reaching for the phone. Maybe a talk with his girlfriend _would_ help calm him down. 

As soon as they were outside the dorm, Sekil turned to Bakura with raised eyebrows. "What was _that_ all about?" 

Bakura shook his head and motioned for Sekil to walk with him. "Ryou's always been bullied," he said once they were away from the dorm. Absently, he rubbed the faint scar on his cheek that he'd gotten from one such bully. "Even before he went blind, but especially after. People always assume things. Assume that because he can't see, he's totally dependent on others. Assume that he'll never be able to do things on his own. Assume that he should be a meek, feeble-minded cripple." The former thief shook his head in disgust. "They always assume. Sometimes it's not even bullies, but years of being treated like a very small child or completely ignored can be very trying on a person. I'm not surprised Ryou got mad when someone suggested he let Tenchi and Ranma throw the fight to him." 

Sekil nodded sympathetically. "The fact that Unmei's not a cripple just makes it worse. He _knows_ he's just as capable of doing things as you and I, and in frustrates him that other people can't realize that too." 

"That's exactly it." Bakura agreed with a sigh. 

Sekil grinned slowly. "I think we have some heads to bust. Let's see if we can't find out who that bully in 'mei's morning class was." 

The grin that lit Bakura's face would have reminded Yami and Yugi of Battle City. "Yes, let's." 

In the end, they were nearly too late. 

-(-)-

Ryou was still angry. 

After he was sure Serenity had gotten out of school, he'd called her house only to be informed by her mother that she'd already been and gone. She and Rebecca (and Mokuba when he wasn't at Kaiba Corp) were helping out at the Game Shop when they could, since Grampa Moto was in Egypt and Yami and Yugi were both at college. Ryou had managed to thank her politely, and cursed as soon as he'd hung up. Since then he'd been prowling around the dorm, too restless to sit still and too aware of his own anger to risk other people by going outside. He didn't know where Sekil had gone, and when the sun set and the stars came out and he still wasn't back, Ryou couldn't even find it in himself to be worried, only rather annoyed. 

Finally he gave up. Sensing that most students were, if not asleep at least in their dorms, Ryou grabbed his cane, pulled on his boots, and headed for the streets. It was dark enough that he met no one, and of course he was perfectly at ease whether in darkness or light. 

He had a vague feeling, an almost _knowing_ of what was coming. Whether it was some bit of precognition or just instinct he didn't know, and didn't particularly care. 

As he stalked through the darkened campus, Ryou felt the shadows following him, the ones that _thought_ they were being cunning. Little did they know that their intent, their hatred shone to him like a beacon in the night. Inwardly, even in the midst of his anger, he sighed. People were so _stupid_ sometimes... 

No sooner had he stepped outside of campus grounds then they struck. In an instant, Ryou was ringed in by at least a dozen men. Most of them were smaller than his five-foot-ten frame, though a few were heavy, as though built out of bricks. They were all college age, most juniors or seniors, and it didn't surprise Ryou that Tohma was in the lead. 

Subtly, he took a tighter grip on his cane. There was a _reason_ it was solid oak and not flimsy plastic, after all. Sure, he'd invited this by walking out after dark, but that didn't mean this wasn't going to hurt a bit. It had been inevitable, though. Ryou knew that. He'd shown Tohma up that morning, would have hit him if the teacher hadn't intervened. In the book of a bully like Tohma, that was an unforgivable sin, especially for a cripple like Ryou. 

"Well, well," the sneer in Tohma's voice practically dripped testosterone. "Lookie what we found boys. It's the little white mouse, out for a midnight stroll before his big brother tucks him into bed." 

Ryou's grip on his staff was white-knuckled, though it was too dark for any to see. He grit his teeth, trying very hard not to snarl. A small corner of his mind was screaming at him to calm down, to be careful, screaming that even bullies didn't deserve the full wrath of the gods, but Ryou was getting very close to not listening. 

Tohma, taking his silence for fear, swaggered closer as all around them his friends sniggered and nudged each other. This wasn't work, this was humoring their buddy while he put someone in their place. The kid was blind, it wasn't even like Tohma would need any help. They were just there as witnesses. "Aw, I'm sorry, did I not word that right? I'll have to fix that. You know, it wasn't very nice, threatening to hit me earlier. People have been sniggering at me all day. Even my girl found out, somehow. I'm afraid I'm going to have to make you pay for her laughing at me, you blind rat. Maybe you can show me some of those martial arts 'skills' you value so much." 

Ryou's eyes flashed in the darkness, though there was no light for them to reflect. Tohma appeared not to notice, though a few of his friends shifted uneasily. "Oh?" Ryou asked, his voice deceptively soft and mild. It was as cold as ice, though, and his eyes glinted like shards of glass. "Maybe I shall. And it was so kind of you to point out my lack of sight, Tohma-kun, I hadn't noticed." 

A few of the men laughed nervously, and Tohma scowled, taking another step closer to Ryou. "Listen to me, you blind fag," he snarled. "You think you're so much better than everyone else. It's time someone taught you your place." 

"It certainly won't be you," Ryou countered, his voice still soft and holding a deadly calm. "Why must you humans always judge? Because I cannot see, it's all right if you kick me into the dirt. After all, no one cares about the cripples except to pity them. Because I have long hair and a pierced ear, I'm below those who do not. Because I carry scars, you don't have to notice me, because it's far too awkward. Always passing snap judgments..." he shook his head slowly. "Tsk tsk, foolish humans..." Unnoticed by all in the heat of the confrontation, the wind was picking up, sending trash skittering down the street. 

Tohma stopped, staring at him. "You're fucking _crazy_," he muttered at last. "You're not just a bleedin' cripple, you're _crazy_!" 

"Am I?" Ryou asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Poor Tohma, got humiliated by a crippled lunatic. What _will_ your friends think?" 

Letting out a muted roar of rage, Tohma charged at the blind telepath. Moving with the easy grace of someone who knew what was coming, Ryou dropped his cane and moved out of the way of his fists. Then he caught one of the bully's wrists, pulling him almost into an embrace. 

"Gods punish bullies, Tohma-kun," Ryou whispered, his voice speaking of hell and shadows, darkness and ice. Tohma shivered despite himself, but a moment later it was replaced by his own rage. 

"Fuck you!" was his response, spinning on one heel and jabbing his free elbow back into Ryou's solar plexis. Something cracked, and Ryou let go of his wrist, doubling over at the pain in his chest. Hopping back a step, Tohma spun around again, this time in a heavy roundhouse kick that connected solidly with the side of Ryou's head, throwing him to the pavement with a dull thud. 

Tohma's friends sent up a cheer as Tohma grinned, preening and strutting rather like a cock rooster after a fight. They were a bit premature, however. 

Groaning softly, Ryou pushed himself to his hands and knees, and then struggled to his feet. The circle of watching men let out a ragged gasp, and then fell silent. Tohma turned around, looking surprised. Ryou was glowing, his aura snapping around him like silver and white flames. As the men watched, amazed, the blood from a split lip and scraped cheek slowly tapered, and then the cuts themselves began to heal before their very eyes. The worst part, though, were Ryou's eyes. 

They were glowing bright red. 

When Ryou was frightened badly enough, sometimes he lost control of his powers. Windows were smashed, and things (or people) got thrown in a sort of desperate, random self-defense. Sometimes, if the fear was strong enough, it would be translated into a physical whirlwind that whipped around Ryou, sheltering and shielding him from everything around him. 

But he wasn't afraid now. He was _mad_, madder than he'd been in a long time, and for his power, anger was worse than fear. 

When he got truly angry, his control over his powers was iron. They never lashed out in random destruction, but were kept under a leash and lashed like a short and very deadly whip. When Ryou was truly angry, there wasn't widespread destruction, only a few missing persons. 

Thankfully, Ryou had only been really and truly angry once before. He'd always been a calm, thoughtful child, and after Bakura began his beatings he'd become even more introverted. But once, when Ryou was around ten or so, Bakura had threatened Amane with horrible things. Ryou's anger had snapped, and for the first and last time he stood up to Bakura. The yami had felt the gatherings of power, and without even knowing what he was doing he'd called on the Ring's power to stifle it. It had worked. The magic of the Ring had canceled out Ryou's fledgling telepathy, and all he'd gotten for his troubles was one of the first really bad beatings Bakura ever gave him. In fact, Ryou no longer even remembered that incident. It was one of the many that had been blocked off, suppressed because of the pain it caused to remember. After the Locking Rituals, with the Ring no longer there to suppress his powers, Ryou had never really gotten that angry again. 

Until now. 

"_That hurt_," he hissed, and several of the men turned tail and ran simply at the tone of his voice. Without turning, Ryou waved a hand and froze them all in their tracks. A moment later he'd forgotten about them. All his intent was focused on the bully named Tohma. 

Tohma took a step backward, only to bump against a wall that shouldn't have been there. Casting a panicked glance over his shoulder, Tohma could see nothing, although his back was pressed against what felt like a solid wall. He turned around again just in time to see Ryou take a step closer. His face was calm, but even so it carried a menace that scared Tohma to the core for the first time in his life. "D-don't come any closer, you freak!" 

Ryou's grin was ghastly, like something out of a nightmare, but he stopped his advance. "Poor Tohma," he said, his voice still soft. "Never thought he'd ever face someone stronger than himself. Perhaps it's time I showed you what it is like to be bullied." Though his face was still calm, inwardly Ryou was seething. The things he was pulling from Tohma's mind made him sick. He wasn't the first that Tohma had teased. Far from it. There had been many others, girls and boys, over the years. Several of them, Ryou saw with a pang of regret, had been driven to suicide by the taunting of Tohma and others like him. And when he'd found out about each and every one of them, Tohma had _laughed_... 

"You bastard," Ryou hissed, and for the first time his face contorted into a snarl. Several of the watching lackeys shivered at the sight, but all of them were frozen and unable to move. Tohma himself felt paralyzed. He'd made the mistake of looking into Ryou's eyes, and now the red glow seemed to spread and engulf him. He thought he heard shouts, running footsteps, but it was all far away. All he could hear clearly was the terrible, terrible voice of the man he'd thought weak. 

"You bastard," the telepath repeated, his entire body shaking in anger. His fists were clenched so tightly it was beginning to draw blood from the palms of his hands, and his teeth so hard likewise that his jaw creaked. "You never cared, did you? You never even felt guilty when they died. You laughed when you found out, said they had it coming for being so weak, that Darwin had decided their genes weren't worth passing on. There are mothers crying for their children because of you, fathers pining away! Sisters depressed and contemplating suicide themselves because of those no longer here! Brothers," his voice caught, and not from anger. "Brothers wishing they knew who had driven their sisters to this so that they could take revenge! Even those victims of yours that still live have been scarred, Tohma Matsuki. You've tormented enough! Your reign of terror ends today, and I intend to make sure Osiris knows that all their precious innocent blood lays on your shoulders!" His voice dropped as suddenly as it had risen, until Tohma could barely hear him. "Do you fear death, Tohma?" 

He couldn't answer. Something was wrong, something strange was going on inside his head, and though he could feel his feet on the ground he felt like he was falling, and the red that filled his eyes was bleeding into black... 

"Ryou, _**stop!**_" 

Ryou let out a startled cry, surprise mixed with rage and disappointment as Bakura smacked him sharply across one cheek, breaking his concentration and letting Tohma crumple to the ground. "How dare you!" He spun, throwing out one hand as he telepathically picked up Bakura and threw him backward. 

Sekil, who'd arrived the moment before, built up his own powers and slowed the tomb robber's flight, setting him onto his feet again. Not able to spare Bakura another glance, Sekil turned toward Ryou, who was still glowing bright white. The True Realm telepath cursed softly and strode forward, bodily placing himself between Ryou and the fallen Tohma. 

Thankfully, he and Bakura had been within a few minutes walk, and less than that at a dead run. They'd been working to track down Tohma's dorm, having learned from the teacher what his name was, when Ryou's anger had hit them like a brick wall. Bakura, though far less psychically sensitive than most of his friends, had stumbled and fallen. Sekil had actually blacked out for a minute or two. Both of them had known with a cold certainty what was happening, and as soon as they'd gotten their equilibrium back they'd run for the source of the overwhelming anger, hoping they were in time to do something. But by Allah, he'd had no idea Ryou had so much raw _power_... "That's enough, Ryou." 

Ryou snarled, his eyes still glowing a bloody red color. _That_ was what worried Sekil the most. Red eyes tended to be a sign of taint and corruption, he hoped that Ryou had only gained them because he'd flown into such an uncontrollable rage. 

"Get out of my way!" Ryou growled warningly. "He must pay for all he's done!" 

Sekil shook his head firmly, wishing for a fleeting moment that he had his staff with him. "Killing isn't the way, Ryou. Let him meet Osiris in his own time." 

"This _is_ his time!" Ryou nearly howled. "He cannot be allowed to live to torment another!" 

Sekil shook his head again, his expression grim. "If you kill him now, Ryou, you become no better than he is. I can't let you taint yourself that way, not like this. You're letting your anger get the better of you." 

Ryou let out another howl, and suddenly Sekil found himself being battered by nearly gale-force winds. Letting out a soft cry of surprise, he quickly delved into his own telepathy to anchor himself in place. It was hard, though, harder than it should have been. Damn, but Ryou was so _strong_... 

"He's right, Ryou." 

The winds slowed and then stopped, and Sekil dared to open his eyes and drop his arms from where he'd raised them to protect his face. Bakura was standing over Tohma's still body and giving all the still-frozen witnesses the evil eye. It was not he who had spoken, however. 

Fate was standing next to her son with one hand cradling the back of his neck, the other over his eyes. She was in full goddess regalia, robes and wings included. The look on her face was gentle, with a hint of worry and sorrow drawing her brows together. Ryou was still trembling, but now it seemed to be from weakness, rather than anger. It was like all the fury had suddenly rushed out of him, leaving him an empty shell. Gently, Fate used the hand over his eyes to push him backwards, and then she lifted him effortlessly into her arms. Sekil thought he saw the flash of metal in the hand that had been at Ryou's neck, but a moment later whatever it was had disappeared into Fate's robes. His eyes were closed, though he didn't appear to have passed out. 

"I forced him into a trance," Fate said softly in answer to Sekil's unspoken question. "He's going to hate me in the morning, but it had to be done." She shuddered slightly, her wings making soft rustling sounds as she resettled them against her back. "I wouldn't be surprised if they felt that in other realms. I was in Egypt in mortal form, and it still made me nauseous..." She shook her head, and turned to Bakura. He was ready, and willingly took Ryou from her. Once her son was taken care of, Fate looked toward Sekil with a weary look on her face. "Come, we have some memories to alter." She gestured to Tohma and the circle of trembling former-bullies. 

Sekil made a face. Memory erasure and alteration was, by far, one of his least favorite skills. All telepaths had their specialties, and his were precognition and using his powers to restrain others. This was going to hurt in the morning... but at least he had a goddess to help. Sighing, Sekil brushed his hair out of his eyes and turned toward the first of the bullies. 

To his surprise, Fate put up a hand to stop him. He looked at her, and involuntarily took a step back. The look on her face was ruthless, calculating, and for a moment it scared him. "Hold, mage," she said softly, her voice as cool as Ryou's had been earlier. "I think Tohma is our first priority. He needs quite a few... adjustments." 

Something about the way she said it sent a shiver down Sekil's spine. Usually the gods didn't interfere too severely with humans, preferring to let mortals handle things their own way. When other realms were involved it was different, but what Fate was proposing to do to Tohma was nearly taboo. Sekil glanced at Bakura. Nope, no help there, the former spirit looked like he wanted to kill Tohma himself. At least Fate was willing to keep him alive. "Are you sure you're allowed..." 

"Rules be damned." Fate said calmly, still eyeing the prone body. "Usually I don't condone interfering with the way a person was born, but in this case..." 

Two hours later, a dozen college students woke up in their dorms, relishing the memories of the best party that had happened in years. Sekil went to bed with only a minor headache, Ryou tucked safely into the bed across from him. Bakura muffled Yami's snoring with a pillow, and fell under his own covers. Fate returned to Egypt and her husband, not enjoying the fact that she'd have to tell him why she up and left so suddenly right in the middle of their... 'fun'. 

And Tohma... 

Many people wondered at the change that suddenly came over him. He was meek, kind, even sweet at times. His friends, thoroughly weirded out by the transformation, all left him for better sport. He rebuilt his life, always wondering about the slightly dream-like quality the first twenty years of his life had taken, if it had ever really happened at all. His family was overjoyed, and thanked the gods daily for their son's change of heart. Fate kept an eye on him for the rest of his life, and eventually even she admitted that sometimes personality manipulation was a necessity. Tohma didn't remember Ryou at all, but for the rest of his time at Tokyo U, for no reason he could ever quite pin down, he felt a strange unease and walked in wide circles around the white-haired blind man whose name he didn't even know. 

-(-)-

The next morning, Ryou had woken up silent. Not a sullen silent, but a dazed, slightly confused silent that made Sekil and Bakura worry a bit more than they already had been. All morning he hadn't said a word, just sat, the spaced out expression on his face made even more creepy by his unfocused eyes. Neither Sekil nor Bakura went to their morning classes, staying to talk in hushed voices and dart many looks at the still telepath. 

Finally, to their immense relief, Ryou had broken down around noon and began to sob. Exchanging slightly puzzled, but no less relieved, looks over his head, Sekil and Bakura wrapped their arms around him and just let him cry. When he was able of coherent speech, Ryou's words tumbled over each other like over-exuberant puppies, accompanied by more tears. He made them both swear, several times, to never let him get that angry again. Only after they'd given him their solemn word did he calm down enough to speak in full sentences. 

Part of him had been ready to kill Tohma and all of his friends without a second thought. It whispered to him that he had the power, why not use it? Why not make _sure_ that the bastard never hurt another soul? He was a demi-god, he was allowed to do this, he was _encouraged_ to do this, to rid the world of filth... 

The rest of him had been terrified of that first part, too terrified to try and fight. And really, they wanted to get rid of this bully too... 

"If you hadn't come when you had," Ryou whispered, his voice still shaky. "I really would have killed him...!" 

"Everyone has a dark side," Bakura had said, looking Ryou in the eye (for all the good it did the blind man). "Everyone. You can keep it in chains, locked away in your deepest heart of hearts, but it's still there. You can swear never to let it loose again, but if you're afraid of it it will always have power over you. You have to accept that it is a part of who you are. A hated part, a part you keep locked away, but still one side of you. After all," he added wryly. "I should know." 

Ryou gave him a watery smile and squeezed his hand to show he understood. 

In the week or so since then, Ryou had steadily recovered. Yami and Yugi had been told about Ryou's little "adventure", much to their consternation. Both of them had felt the sudden wave of anger - Yami was actually thrown backward against the wall by the strength of it - but hadn't known what it was. As soon as Bakura told them about Ryou being afraid of his darker side, Yugi had gotten a strange look on his face. That afternoon, he and Ryou had locked themselves together in one of the dorms. No one, not even Yami or Bakura, ever learned what they talked about for those several hours, but after they came out again Ryou was much more cheerful and the friendship between the hikaris had seemed to be strengthened by several degrees. Ryou had taken to wearing a black glove over his left hand, to hide the distinctive rose scar. ("Trying to mimic Kawari?" Bakura had asked, to which Ryou replied "Wrong hand, baka, and if I tried to fence I'd end up stabbing myself.") 

"Hurry up Bakura, someone's coming!" 

Bakura shook his head sharply, snapping himself out of his musings. He could space out later, during class. "Almost done!" he answered in a stage whisper, hurriedly spreading the last of the bottle over the seat of the chair and then stashing both bottle and lid in a nearby desk drawer. 

Standing up and backing away from the desk, he glanced at the door just as Amoura hobbled her way in. Beside her and carrying her books was a sheepish-looking Yugi, who'd been playing lookout just outside the classroom door. "All done?" the Puzzle hikari asked. 

Bakura smirked and nodded. "Yeeep." 

Amoura looked back and forth between them, her eyebrows raised. "Vhat? And vhy are you both 'ere zo early?" 

Bakura's smirk grew. "You may have convinced me to stay in the class, 'Moura, but that doesn't mean I can't get back at her." 

Amoura frowned, and Bakura had the distinct impression that if she hadn't had crutches, her hands would have been on her hips. "Vhat 'ave you done?" 

Bakura tried his best to look innocent. "You'll see." 

Amoura sighed and shook her head, but a small smile crept in to replace her frown. "Very vell... Besides, you are not zee only one to vant to get back at 'er." She flashed a grin before turning to her seat. Behind her back, Bakura and Yugi exchanged glances and grins of their own. Seemed Amoura had a vengeful streak too. Goody. Today was going to be fun... 

Over the next few minutes, the rest of the class trickled in. Director-Baka entered last of all, carrying her gradebooks. "I trust you all have your skits prepared? Good, we'll get started right away, then." She sat down at her desk, and Yugi and Bakura exchanged glances again and tried very hard not to snicker. She didn't seem to notice anything amiss, however, and flipped her gradebook open to the appropriate page. "All right, Mr. Bakura, Miss Letazaut, would you grace our stage with your presence?" 

Normally Bakura would have rolled his eyes, but at the moment he was in too good a mood. Having one person on crutches had been a bit tricky, but they'd figured it out. He and Amoura had spent most of last Saturday working out their sketch, and he was confident that not only would it get them a few laughs, it would haul in a pretty good grade, too. Provided Director-Baka graded fairly, that is. 

Helping Amoura out of her seat and onto the low stage at the front of the room, Bakura flashed Director-Baka a winning smile before addressing the class. "We call it, 'Snowfall'," 

Amoura took up her position at one end of the stage, leaning on her crutches and looking off into the 'distance' with an overly dramatized look of anguish on her face. Bakura entered from the other side and went to stand next to her. "Are you all right, Amoura?" 

She sighed deeply and mimed wiping away a tear. "Zis ski resort always makes me zink of Papa. 'E used to bring us 'ere every vinter." 

Bakura's face morphed into a perfect expression of sympathy, and he put a hand on her shoulder. "Your father died a couple years ago, right?" He waited for Amoura to nod sadly. "I'm sorry. Let's go skiing, it might distract you from your sorrow." Amoura nodded again, and the two of them mimed skiing across the stage. It was tricky with Amoura's crutches, but it worked out. Once they'd reached the other side, Amoura looked up at the 'sky'. 

"Oh Bakura, it's znowing zo 'ard! Ve'd better go in." 

Bakura pretended to look around, unimpressed. "We've got plenty of time. And it's so beautiful out here, I don't want to go in yet." He drew closer to her, and they smiled warmly at each other. "I love you Amoura," he said softly, not having to act at all. 

She smiled back as he drew her closer with an arm around her waist. "I love you too." They kissed, and several students (including both Gwen and Yugi) wolf-whistled loudly. A moment later Amoura drew away, and Bakura couldn't help but pout a little. Ah well, couldn't be helped. 

Keeping a firm grip on Amoura's elbow, just like they'd rehearsed, Bakura held her up slightly as she let herself fall backward, keeping her from falling too hard and really more of lowering her to the ground. Even so, she screamed, while at the same time he yelled "Amoura!" in his best grief-stricken voice. A moment later he was on his knees beside her, pulling her onto his lap. "Amoura, are you all right?" 

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "I-I do not know... My leg 'urts, and it is zo cold..." 

"You'll be fine, Amoura, I promise." Bakura had worn a light jacket to class today for just this purpose, and now he took it off and wrapped it around Amoura, before pulling her even closer. He himself then began to shiver. "S-someone will f-find us." It was remarkably hard to fake chattering teeth, but he'd worked on it an hour or two last night, and was pretty confident that it was believable. 

"I 'ope zo..." Amoura said, letting her eyes close and her head fall limply against Bakura's chest. "I 'ope zo..." 

Then Bakura helped her to her feet, retrieving her crutches from where she'd dropped them when she 'fell'. He exchanged crutches for his jacket, and the two of them took their bows amidst the polite applause of their class and more whistles from Gwen. When he looked up again, Director-Baka was busily writing in her gradebook, but the expression on her face gave away nothing. 

Once Bakura and Amoura were back in their seats, Director-Baka looked up. "Very nice. I understand you two spent some time in the hospital after that little adventure?" 

"Yes ma'am," they answered dutifully, and Bakura held up his left hand with the pinkie finger missing. "Took some damage, too." 

"So I see," Director-Baka commented, giving him a look he couldn't even begin to interpret. For some reason, it made him nervous, and he quickly looked away. After a moment, Director-Baka continued, "All right, next up are Mr. Moto and Miss Gardener." 

Both of them blushing slightly, Yugi and Tea made their way onto the stage. Tea had brought a prop, the Dark Magician Girl staff she'd bought in the Parisian Duel Monsters store. She and Yugi went through a sketch about looking through the store, and then going to see the Eiffel Tower. They too took their bows amidst soft applause, and then returned to their seats. 

"Good, good," Director-Baka said absently, scribbling away in her book. She looked up again. "Miss Kennady?" 

The grin on Gwen's face as she hopped onto the stage was positively evil, and Bakura found himself wondering what she was up to. An instant later he found out, when Gwen took hold of the hem of the loose sundress she was wearing and carelessly stripped it off over her head, tossing it off to the side of the stage. 

There was a collective gasp of intaken breath, followed by the mass dropping of male jaws. Amoura, looking annoyed, reached over and covered Bakura's eyes. A moment later Tea did the same to Yugi, who was practically drooling. 

Gwen still grinned, quite aware of what she'd just done to half the class. She was wearing her bathing suit, and knew well enough how she looked in it. She started into her sketch about surfing on California's beaches with Hiro and Malik and Ishtar, aware that most people weren't even listening. At the end she bowed (more gasping from the men) and stooped to pick up her sundress. She slung it over one shoulder, and winked at the class. "Sorry," she said, with a saucy tilt of her hips. "I'm taken." 

Several boys groaned, and Director-Baka looked amused. "Miss Kennady, that was certainly a very... creative approach to the assignment. I don't know whether to dock you points, or give you extra credit. I've never seen Bakura turn that shade of red before." 

Gwen laughed, pulling her dress back on, and Bakura sputtered indignantly, trying to bat away Amoura's hand, which was still over his eyes. His face truly was bright pink, though. 

The rest of the sketches weren't nearly so... eventful, and soon enough the class was ending. Bakura and Yugi were scrambling to gather their books and get out of there before the professor found out what they'd done to her seat, and when she spoke they nearly jumped through the roof. 

"Mr. Moto, Mr. Bakura, if you would stay after class, please?" 

The two men exchanged terrified looks as the rest of the class trickled out. "Tea and I vill vait for you outside," Amoura said as she passed them, her expression clearly adding 'I'm glad it's you and not me'. 

For several minutes after the last of the class left, Director-Baka said nothing, looking through her papers and letting the men squirm. Finally she glanced up at them with raised eyebrows. "You can stop sweating, you're not in trouble." 

Yugi and Bakura exchanged looks again, not sure whether to be relieved or not. 

Director-Baka continued without giving them a chance to speak, leaning back in her chair. "I wanted to ask how your brother is doing. Ryou, I mean, not Yami." 

The two blinked. "Ma'am?" Yugi asked cautiously, not sure what she meant. 

Director-Baka actually looked amused. "That was an impressive show he and those two friends of his put on last week." 

Bakura sighed softly, relieved that that was all she meant. "Yes, it was. I'm very proud of him for working so hard to earn his black belts." 

If anything, she looked more amused. "Yes, that too, I suppose. It's not every day you see teenagers who can heat air, create invisible shields, and muddle other people's minds, respectively." She laughed as she saw the looks on their faces. "What I _meant_ was what happened afterward. He must have been very tired to have collapsed like that after the young Mr. Mahaados only touched him." 

Bakura sputtered, his mind quickly going into panic. How did she know? What did she- 

Director-Baka's face turned serious. "And the night after, when something woke me up from a sound sleep. I thought I'd had a nightmare, but I'd never had any nightmares so strong before." 

Bakura gulped, and Yugi stuttered, "Er, you see Miss M-MacIntire..." 

She smiled faintly, though she still looked grave. She leaned forward, placing her elbows on her desk, but neither of the men worried now that she might discover their prank. "I have a gift, you might say. Oh, not nearly as strong as what you and your brothers and several of your friends have, but I do have a gift. Second sight, I call it for lack of anything better. Illusions don't work on me, at least for not very long. I knew something was odd about you two during the play last year, but I couldn't tell what. I'd never encountered people possessed by ancient spirits before. Or the ancient spirits themselves." She chuckled softly. "I knew something wasn't right about little Rhiannon either, but I assumed that you all knew each other..." 

She shook her head. "But that's in the past." She looked up at them, eyes twinkling. "It's quite amusing, you know, listening to a three-thousand year old pharaoh use modern slang." Yugi blushed a little for Yami's sake, and Director-Baka smiled. A moment later it faded. "Truly, though, is Ryou all right?" 

Bakura nodded, his mind whirling. Second sight? It sounded like she could see auras, something all telepaths and most mages could do to one extent or another. Now that he concentrated, he could sense that Director-Baka had the tiniest bit of magic in her veins, enough to allow her to see auras and dispel illusions, but not much more than that. "Yes, he is, thank you for asking. He had a bit of trouble with some bullies, but we've taken care of it." 

She gave a small grin. "Fate comes in handy sometimes." 

Yugi and Bakura both looked at her, startled, but she seemed unaware of what she'd just said. "Very well then, I just wanted to let you know about me so you don't find out on your own and hyperventilate." She paused and seemed to think of something else. "Oh, and Bakura?" 

He raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" 

She looked him in the eye, the expression on her face strange. "You smell of death. You must love Amoura very much to risk losing your soul." 

He couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face. Wasn't he supposed to hate this teacher? "Yes, I do." 

She nodded, as if he'd confirmed something she already knew. She looked down at the papers strewn across her desk and waved her hand, dismissing them. They managed to keep silent until they were out the door. 

"She knows!" Bakura hissed as soon as they were out of the professor's earshot. "She knows about me and Yami, and Ryou, and if she was paying attention back then, probably Battle City, too! Damnit, we don't need this!" 

Yugi nodded, obviously worried. "Let's talk to Yami, he'll know what to do." 

Bakura nodded his agreement, and they headed for the door out onto the verandah were they could see Amoura and Tea waiting. Just as they reached the glass doors, a faint ripping sound met their ears, followed by a loud "Hell and damnation!" as Director-Baka found the rubber cement on her chair. 

Grinning widely at each other, Yugi and Bakura pushed through the doors and took off running, leaving their girlfriends and one furious professor behind. 

-(-)-

Yami sat back in his seat, his brows drawn together in a deep frown. "Second sight..." he mused, half to himself. "This could complicate matters indeed..." 

"_I_ could have told you that," Bakura muttered. 

Yami ignored the thief, looking instead at Yugi. "And she didn't seem hostile, or anything?" 

Yugi shook his head. "Just amused. I don't think she means us any harm." 

Bakura muttered something under his breath, and again the duo of the Puzzle ignored him. Yami nodded thoughtfully. "All right. Let's keep an eye on her, but not do anything else for now." 

"Should we tell Sekil and Ryou?" Yugi queried. 

"Probably," Yami agreed. "Malik and Ishtar too, just in case." 

"Okay," Yugi said, and glanced at his watch. "Gosh, I've got to get to class. Later Bakura, bye niisan!" 

"Bye Yugi," the two ancients chorused. For a moment after the hikari had left, the two just sat in silence. 

"I wonder what other tricks Fate has in store." Yami mused finally. 

Bakura shook his head. "Don't ask, Yami. I don't want to know the answer." 

Yami could only agree. 

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-) 

WSJ: (giggles) Yay! Finished! Originally it was going to contain another section, but I figured timing-wise it would fit into the next chapter better anyway, and you guys have been waiting for this one long enough. 

Yami: ... (looks around) SJ, it's kinda sparse around here... 

WSJ: (sweatdrop) Yes, I know. Unmei's kinda unstable and really really mad at me right now, so he and Chiot and Sekil are over at Ebony's until he calms down. 

Yami: Ah. 

WSJ: Lessee, other notes... Oh! I have become addicted to Ceres: Celestial Legend. I bought the first manga yesterday, and I LOVE it! (glomps Aki) If you like shojo manga, you should definitely look it up. 

Yami: (pokes her) So what now? 

WSJ: Now... (rolls up her sleeves) I start work on chapter 6. And if I find time, Like a Thief 10 and HSWA 13. Hopefully I'll be able to update at least two of the three by the time school's out, but we'll see. Ciao! 

**Chapter 6:** WSJ: (V/O) Well, we're headed on into October. 

Duke: Happy birthday Mina. 

Mina: (blushes) 

WSJ: (V/O) And I think we're in for a humorous chapter... 

Amoura: My cast comes off tomorrow! 

Tea: Hehehe... You know what that means! 

Gwen: Whoohoo! 

All three: Dance party! 

WSJ: (V/O) And perhaps some other stuff, too. 

Mokuba: (turns around as the bell over the door chimes) Hi, welcome to the Turtle Game Shop... 

WSJ: (V/O) All this and more, next time! 

God bless minna-san! 


End file.
